After Leaving Mr. Mackenzie

“Lucid, exact, and swift. . . . An essential part of the [Rhys] record.” -V. S. Naipaul, The New York Review of Books

Julia Martin has long depended on the generosity of men. But when her affair with Mr. Mackenzie comes to an end, leaving her near destitute in Paris, Julia reaches a turning point. Her youth waning and her desperation growing, Julia returns to London, only to discover her ailing mother no longer recognizes her and her estranged sister wants nothing to do with her.

With psychological depth and penetrating insight, Jean Rhys explores the contradictions of love and the perils of being a woman without means in interwar Europe in a novel the Guardian calls “a flawless work of art.”

“If ever there was an unsung heroine of feminist literature, it is the amazing Jean Rhys.” –Alan Cumming, Emmy and Tony Award–winning actor