Frida - by Claire Berest (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

'The portrait of a fascinating, eccentric, and indomitable woman . . . an incandescent novel' Elle

'No author has yet captured Frida's tragic life in words as sensually and passionately as this' Grazia

'Claire Berest writes as captivatingly and vividly as Frida Kahlo painted' Paris Match

WINNER OF ELLE FRANCE'S GRAND PRIX DES LECTRICES

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Frida doesn't speak, she yells. She curses like a sailor and demonstrates with the communists on the streets of Mexico City. She likes drinking tequila, putting flowers in her hair, talking crudely about sex, and parties that wake the dead.

Even when her body is wracked with pain, she paints.

Frida suffered two terrible accidents in her life, one in which a streetcar knocked her down - the other accident was Diego Rivera. Her greatest vice. The love of her life. The most famous artist in Mexico. A man who is as hard to live with, as he is to be without.

Translated into English for the first time, Claire Berest's award-winning novel is a striking fictional imagining of the vibrant life of one of the world's most enigmatic and beloved artists: Frida Kahlo.

Review Quotes

[Berest] recounts the passion, art and torment of this long-suffering painter, a magician of colours and priestess of liberated femininity-- "Les Inrocks"

Claire Berest writes as captivatingly and vividly as Frida Kahlo painted-- "Paris Match"

No author has yet captured Frida's tragic life in words as sensually and passionately as this-- "Grazia"

The portrait of a fascinating, eccentric, and indomitable woman . . . an incandescent novel-- "Elle"

About the Author

Claire Berest is the author of the novels Mikado (2009), The Empty Orchestra, Bellevue (2016), Rien n'est noir, winner of the ELLE Readers Grand Prize, and two works of nonfiction, Class Struggle: Why I Resigned from National Education, and Lost Children: An Investigation in the Minors Brigade. Her most recent novel is Artifices.