Rachel Lyon's first novel – soon to be made into a major motion picture starring Zoë Kravitz and Thomasin McKenzie
Lu Rile is a relentlessly focused young photographer struggling to make ends meet. Working three jobs, and worrying that the crumbling warehouse she lives in is being sold to developers, she is at a point of desperation. Until, by pure chance, Lu discovers she's captured a tragedy in the background of a self portrait; a boy falling to his death. The photograph turns out to be the best work of art she's ever made. It's an image that could change her life – if she lets it.
Set in early 90s Brooklyn on the brink of gentrification, Self-Portrait with Boy is a provocative commentary about the emotional
dues that must be paid on the road to success.
'Beautifully imagined and flawlessly executed' Joyce Carol Oates
'A sparkling debut' New York Times Book Review Rachel Lyon is the author of Self-Portrait with a Boy, a finalist for the Center for Fiction's 2018 First Novel Prize, and Fruit of the Dead, an Oprah Daily best book of 2024 which the New York Times called "superb" and "refreshing." Rachel's short stories have appeared in One Story, The Rumpus, Electric Literature, and other publications. She has taught most recently at Bennington College and the American University of Paris, where she was the 2024 Paris Writer in Residence. Originally from Brooklyn, New York, she lives with her family in Western Massachusetts.
