Creation Lake: A Novel

"Thanks for asking. I’ve just picked up a copy of Rachel Kushner’s Creation Lake. I loved— loved— her earlier novel of strip bars and women’s prisons, The Mars Room , which fizzed with life and humour despite its sometimes bleak subject matter. This new novel follows a female American spy as she infiltrates a French eco-terrorist group, was an instant New York Times bestseller on its release in September, and it has already been shortlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize. “Rich with secrets and dense with vibe, you could say that all of Kushner’s novels are spy novels, exposés from someone on the inside,” observed the Los Angeles Review of Books. “So, what happens when she writes an actual spy novel? Everything you might expect— espionage , intrigue, heart-racing action sequences—and something you might not: an authentic ethical awakening.” I’ve also got my eye on The Hotel , a creepy new short story collection by Daisy Johnson ( Everything Under, Sisters ); Ali Smith’s newest novel, Gliff , which is out 31 October in the UK, but not until spring in the US; and the long-awaited new novel, Our Evenings , from Alan Hollinghurst ( The Line of Beauty )."

"Yes, the narrator is almost duped into becoming a spy in this group of people based in France. This book is interesting because it gets into ideas of primeval thinking. The conclusions of the book are very unexpected. There’s a whole section on cave frequencies, ancient voices and deep knowledge, and how our perception of reality is shaped by our ancestry and how we think about the past. It is done through an interesting device. And it takes turns that I would never have anticipated. I really like Rachel Kushner’s writing. I loved The Mars Room . She’s an incredible writer, masterful storyteller, and she questions a lot about the limitations of modern, technology-driven modes of knowledge and navigation. She talks about the power of intuition and sensory-driven approaches. This is a book with an interesting story, but it uses that story in lots of ways to get you thinking and reflecting upon the nature of humanity, existence, and reality. Right. There’s a huge turn in the novel, and it goes in a very different, unexpected direction. Then, it becomes much more reflective, and wider and more expansive in how it approaches the nature of everything. It’s a deep and profound meditation, like you say."