Description

As heard on BBC Radio 4 Book at Bedtime

A Times, Guardian, and Good Housekeeping Book of the Year for 2022

Longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction

‘It takes the most ferocious intelligence, skill, and a deep reservoir of sadness to write a novel as funny as this. I adored it’ – Meg Mason, bestselling author of Sorrow & Bliss

Meet the Hanrahan family.

Ray, the father. Acclaimed artist and notorious narcissist, who is obsessed with his own reputation.

Lucia, his long-suffering wife. A lauded sculptor yet terrified of what recognition could bring. And she has a secret of her own which could tear the family apart.

Leah, the eldest daughter, devoted to her father and convinced of his genius.

Patrick, Lucia’s sensitive son, who has finally decided to strike out by himself.

Jess, the youngest daughter, insecure and facing a daunting decision.

As they gather for a momentous weekend – the first exhibition of Ray’s artwork in many decades – each member of the family must finally make a choice. And when they do, once tensions have boiled over and the guests have departed, what will be left of the Hanrahans?

Longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2022, The Exhibitionist is the extraordinary fifth novel from Charlotte Mendelson, a dazzling exploration of art, sacrifice, toxic family politics, queer desire and personal freedom.

‘A devastating treat of a novel: funny, furious, dark and delicious’ – Sarah Waters, bestselling author of Fingersmith

Publisher Review

In The Exhibitionist Mendelson brings a forensic eye to family dynamics, laying bare the agonies of rage, frustration and longing that lie just beneath the surface of domestic life. The result is a devastating treat of a novel: funny, furious, dark and delicious -- Sarah Waters, bestselling author of Fingersmith It takes the most ferocious intelligence, skill and a deep reservoir of sadness to write a novel as funny as this. I adored it -- Meg Mason, bestselling author of Sorrow and Bliss Mendelson is a master at family drama, and plots don't get much more dramatic than this . . . Exhilarating * The Times * A delicious, heartbreaking family snapshot about thwarted ambition, misplaced loyalty and good and bad love. Secrets abound. Fabulously written and utterly compelling -- Marian Keyes, bestselling author of Grown Ups Soul-scouringly good -- Nigella Lawson Sex, desire, deep-seated marital resentment, monstrous artists, determined wives: it's a delicious, piquant comedy of manners, and Mendelson's serrated prose will have you wincing at every word * Daily Mail * Like Katherine Heiny and Maria Semple, Mendelson is skilled at rendering the grotesque fascinating . . . It is also funny; so funny . . . Reading The Exhibitionist is like eating a rich, delicious and wildly elaborate cream cake. You know you'll regret devouring the whole thing at once, but it's very hard to stop * The i * One of the funniest writers in Britain . . . [The Exhibitionist] is so devoid of second-hand sentences that it's quite possible [Mendelson] spent all nine years since its predecessor polishing her jokes and turning phrases round until they shine . . . A precision of observation that made me laugh frequently and smile when I wasn't laughing * The Guardian * Electric . . . The Exhibitionist is both a roiling family drama and a chilling portrait of enmeshment, coercive control and enabled addiction * The Sunday Telegraph * Unutterably brilliant -- Lucy Worsley A deliciously evocative novel laced with sex and art -- Financial Times A magnificent book, witty and furious and not a word out of place. I am obsessed -- Elizabeth Macneal, bestselling author of The Doll Factory and Circus of Wonders Exceptional * Woman & Home * A compulsive distillation of artistic ego, midlife passion and family dysfunction . . . Hilarious, sexy and thoughtful * Mail on Sunday * A devastating, blackly comic portrait of middle-class dysfunction . . . A fine and haunting book -- Sarah Moss * The Guardian * A truly wonderful novel, and a funny and wise one, too; the individual components sparkle, the whole movement beguiles -- Sunjeev Sahota, author of 2021 Man Booker-longlisted The China Room I don't think I've ever read anything that is simultaneously so elegant and so propulsive - every single sentence Charlotte Mendelson writes is arrestingly powerful. I think this book is beautiful, but it's also funny, furious, sexy, blissfully hot and cold and wild in its rage -- Daisy Buchanan, author of Insatiable The unhappy Hanrahans fall apart, their story playing out with devastating, exuberant glee . . . Honest and frenetically paced, this is a painfully funny look at art, ambition and damaging family dynamics -- Sunday Express (S magazine) Mendelson's great success is to make the endless sacrifices, self-conscious denials and forbidden emotions of the Hanrahans heartbreakingly relatable . . . The Exhibitionist is an undeniable success * Literary Review * Sharp and sad, witty and hopeful, as with all Mendelson's work, The Exhibitionist is both forensically aware of all the flaws of humanity but also able to be forgiving and compassionate -- Cathy Rentzenbrink, author of Everyone Is Still Alive A welcome return for the chronicler of family secrets, with a tale of art, ego and marriage * The Guardian * A treat . . . Excoriating observation of the art world, crazy toxic family intrigues, wit, wisdom and brilliant writing -- Muriel Gray