Contrapposto by Dave Eggers

Twenty years in the making, a big-hearted novel about art, life and the complicated beauty of both – from the author of The Circle and A Hologram for the King.

Cricket is just a shy kid who likes drawing when he first meets Olympia. She's older, more confident; she bullies him into some light vandalism and instantly he's in love. When they're together, they talk about their futures, how they're going to travel the world, and the beauty and rapture of art.

Then those futures start to arrive in unexpected ways, the years and decades pile up between them, the art world seduces and disappoints and frustrates them. And they have to figure out, again and again, what it is to be an artist, and who and what to love.

This is a wild and beautiful novel about two friends who believe they can change the world, if only they can start their own movement, dodge charlatans, remain open-eyed and open-hearted, avoid going mad, avoid dying young of rare cancers, stay true to their ideals and never tire of beauty. Not easy, but not impossible, either.

'A book of profundity, humanity and ravishing beauty - the only kind of book I want to read' - ANDREW SEAN GREER, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Less

'Glorious and captivating, with Eggers' signature humour and precision, Contrapposto tells a big and big-hearted story that counter-positions exquisitely the pain and exhilarations of love and the creative impulse. I loved this novel' - LILY KING, author of Heart the Lover

'This book speaks to my heart. With wit, wisdom, and deep empathy, Contrapposto asks all the hard questions that haunt and enliven a creative life - about art and beauty, about commerce and class, about the cost of passion and the price of success' - RUTH OZEKI

'Contrapposto is extraordinary, a lucid and passionate Künstlerroman and a drawing of the negative space around the contemporary art world. Cricket, given great talent and passion, is also a quiet rebel: his inability to agree to any of the small compromises necessary to become a big name is what keeps his art a pure, good, white-hot thing' - LAUREN GROFF