'Thriller-paced, with mysteries revealed at every turn. The great mystery at the centre is Sophie Stark, a totally unforgettable female anti-hero who confirms to absolutely none of our expectations and suffers deeply for it.' Lena Dunham

'Jennifer Egan, eat your heart out' Sam Baker

'I read The Life and Death of Sophie Stark with my heart in my mouth. Not only a dissection of genius and the havoc it can wreak, but also a thunderously good story.' Emma Donoghue

'Anna North is a natural, butter-smooth storyteller, and The Life and Death of Sophie Stark is an elegant, kaleidoscopic look at a challenging artist and at the way our lives are, in some respects, only silhouettes made from the perceptions of those who know us.' Maggie Shipstead, author of Seating Arrangements

The Life and Death of Sophie Stark is the story of an enigmatic film director, told by the six people who loved her most. Brilliant, infuriating, all-seeing and unknowable, Sophie Stark makes films said to be 'more like life than life itself'. But her genius comes at a terrible cost: to her husband, to the brother she left behind, and to the actress she can't quite forget.

With shades of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, A Visit from the Goon Squad and Where'd You Go, Bernadette, it combines a uniquely appealing sensibility with a compulsively page-turning plot.