The Lonely City

OLIVIA LAING

When Olivia Laing moved to New York City in her mid-thirties, she found herself inhabiting loneliness on a daily basis. Increasingly fascinated by this most shameful of experiences, she began to explore the lonely city by way of art.

Moving fluidly between the works and lives of some of the city's most compelling artists, Laing conducts an electric, dazzling investigation into what it means to be alone, illuminating not only the causes of loneliness but also how it might be redeemed and embraced.

'Luminously wise and deeply compassionate... a fierce and essential work.' Helen Macdonald, author of H is for Hawk