Second Place

“Cusk is at her best when she works in diversions, as she does with the deceptive simplicity of Second Place. The novel is skillfully meandering, offering consistent flashes of insight while traversing a great deal of intellectual terrain. The drama is tight and the action straightforward, but when it comes to the beguiling complexity of human nature, the wisdom offered here is significant.”  — Quill & Quire
“Cusk, as always, is brilliant at the subtleties of human dynamics, which here are as ever-changing as the landscape against which they’re set.” — Toronto Star
“Cusk is as brilliant as ever at revealing the tumult that occurs when people with varying strengths of personal will come into close contact with each other. Second Place is the kind of book that requires re-reading, but also rewards it.” — Globe and Mail (Toronto)
“[Second Place] is engaging, and so thought-provoking that it may well cause readers to re-examine their own lives. . . Cusk captivates the reader, her asides and interpretations astute, often funny and memorable.” — Winnipeg Free Press
“Cusk has dressed an incisive meditation on the meaning of art in a delicious psychodrama about three couples communing in the woods.” — Chatelaine