The First Lady's Realm Bookclub - Summer Edition π
βThe Lady's Realm Bookclub β Summer Edition π
Female, Nude by Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett
βWelcome to the very first gathering of The Lady's Realm Bookclub. There's no better way to open than with a book made for long, golden summer days.
βPicture a villa on a Greek island. Four university friends reunited, one of them about to marry, the sea glittering just beyond the terrace. Into this comes Sophie β a painter torn between the life expected of her and the one she quietly longs for. Over the course of one shimmering, sun-soaked holiday, a nude portrait and an unexpected affair unravel everything she thought she knew about art, motherhood, desire, and the shape she wants her life to take.
βSmouldering, propulsive, and quietly radical, Female, Nude is a novel about the female body in all its multitudes β about the choices women make, the ones made for them, and the freedom in choosing differently. It's the perfect book to read with a cold drink in hand and to unpick together in good company.
βA little confession from me: I loved this book so much. I kept finding myself scrambling to Google all the female nudes it mentions in these gorgeous little vignettes β pausing every few pages to look up the paintings and really see them. It turns reading into something closer to wandering a gallery, and I can't wait to talk about it with you all.
βSo bring your copy, bring your thoughts, bring the questions the ending left you with. We'll talk art and ambition, love and longing, and what it really means to look β and to be looked at.
βCome as you are. All women welcome.
βWhat to bring: Your copy of the book (finished or nearly!) and an open mind.
βReading before we meet: Female, Nude by Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett (2026)
βImage: Lisa Brice, Untitled, 2019, gouache and tempera on canvas, 202.6 x 97.4 x 4.6cm. Collection of Tate, presented by Harry and Lana David, 2020. Image courtesy of the artist. Photograph: Mark Blower