Being Here

‘A luminous tale about the courage of the lone female artist.’

Joan London

‘A brief, powerful artistic life that went painfully unrewarded—until after the painter’s death.’

Julian Barnes, Best Summer Holiday Reads, Guardian

‘In Darrieussecq’s hands, Modersohn-Becker’s story is both individual and exemplary: a frightening, energising fable.’

Guardian

‘Darrieussecq has written this painful story because of her own sorrow at not knowing Paula Modersohn-Becker and of not knowing of her; sorrow, too, at her early death and truncated creativity. Darrieussecq looks squarely at a subject that is often too brutal to explore.’

Monthly

‘A series of rapid vignettes full of lightness and longing. This is a short book, but it sparkles with interest…There’s no resisting the urgency of Darrieussecq’s sympathy for – and identification with – this fascinating artist. This is an evocative tribute to Modersohn-Becker.’

Saturday Paper

‘Poetic and poignant…Being Here positively quivers with life.’

Sydney Morning Herald

‘A marvellous distillation of the life and work of the painter Paula Modersohn-Becker, a key figure in the development of feminist art.’

Michelle de Kretser, Sydney Morning Herald