In late 2024, an unnamed British author residing in Paris embarks on a literary investigation of Gertrude Stein, the modernist writer and art collector, while navigating the everyday distractions of her own life. The project becomes entangled with personal concerns when her friend Eva's cat goes missing—a creature referred to only as "it" in lowercase, a naming quirk that creates amusing ambiguity about whether Eva has lost a pet or her composure. Another friend, Fanny, resolves the confusion by renaming the animal Bob, making conversation about the missing feline considerably more straightforward.
Deborah Levy's ninth novel, subtitled "A Fiction," blends biographical research with imaginative storytelling to resurrect a writer whose contributions to modernism remain underappreciated. Stein, an avant-garde American poet and art collector who made her home in Paris, counted Picasso and Hemingway among her circle. She pioneered stream-of-consciousness prose techniques years before James Joyce's experimental methods gained recognition, yet her commercial breakthrough arrived late in life. Her 1933 work, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas—a biography of her longtime partner—finally brought her wider readership and remains one of her most approachable texts.
The narrator of Levy's novel admires Stein's output while acknowledging its difficulty.
Sometimes, when I read her baffling and beguiling writing I want to smack it in the chops. [Stein] longed for her readers to find her, yet there was a part of her that could not bear to be found.This tension between accessibility and deliberate obscurity forms a central theme as the author traces Stein's legacy and reflects on her own creative struggles.
How does the audiobook capture Levy's vision?
Voice actor Kristin Atherton delivers the narrative with cool precision and impeccable pacing, bringing clarity to Levy's layered exploration of biography and fiction. Released on 2 June 2026 as a Macmillan Audio production, the audiobook runs 3 hours and 54 minutes, making it an accessible entry point for listeners unfamiliar with Stein's work or Levy's previous novels.
What emerges from this portrait of Stein?
The Stein who takes shape across these hours is presented as fearless and innovative, a figure so forward-thinking that she never mastered the reverse gear on her Ford Model T. The author traces her subject's journey through Paris, visiting Père Lachaise cemetery in search of Stein's grave and reflecting on the lives of other literary figures alongside her own friendships. According to a later review, the narrator spends one month attempting to understand Stein's genius and her relationship with Alice B. Toklas, using that intimate partnership as a lens through which to examine creativity, devotion and artistic legacy.
What makes this work distinctive?
Levy's approach differs from conventional biography by allowing the unnamed author-narrator to occupy equal narrative space with her subject. The interweaving of personal anecdote—the missing cat, conversations with friends—with Stein's documented life creates an unusual rhythm that mirrors the modernist techniques Stein herself employed. The result is a gripping portrait that refuses straightforward chronology or easy answers, instead inviting listeners to sit with ambiguity and contradiction much as Stein's own readers must do.
When will other editions become available?
Penguin's edition page lists a paperback release scheduled for 2027, alongside the hardback and ebook versions already in circulation. The audiobook edition, narrated by Atherton, remains the most recently released format and offers an intimate listening experience suited to Levy's conversational, essayistic prose style.
Key Facts
- Deborah Levy's novel blends fiction and biography to explore Gertrude Stein's life and artistic legacy through the eyes of a contemporary British author in Paris
- The audiobook, narrated by Kristin Atherton, was released on 2 June 2026 by Macmillan Audio and runs 3 hours and 54 minutes
- Stein, a Pennsylvania-born modernist, achieved commercial success only in her 60s with The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, a biography of her partner
- The novel is structured as a blend of personal reflection and literary investigation, with the narrator visiting Père Lachaise cemetery and examining Stein's influence on modernist writing
