Playing

A young woman freefalls into a “fast . . . stark swirl of sex, violence and near-madness” in this daring novel of dark desire (Publishers Weekly).

When Josie, an anthropology grad student, is unexpectedly offered a job as the nanny for a six-year-old boy, she innocently accepts. Though Josie doesn’t necessarily need the job, there’s something about her ward’s single mom, Mary—her beauty, her confidence, her resemblance to Josie’s estranged mother—that’s soothing to Josie. It also breeds betrayal when Josie moves in on Mary’s crush, Devesh. An Indian surgeon ten years Josie’s senior, Devesh is a strong and enigmatic man who pulls Josie into a dizzying world of sexual domination and submission that speaks to her deeply hidden impulses. In this world of increasingly brutal games, Josie is forced to confront her damaged and disturbing past.

An unflinching look at the irrevocable consequences of giving in to our most secret passions, Playing “is a breathless read, whose rewards are both unpredictable and unforgettable” (Howard Norman, Whiting Award-winning author of The Bird Artist).