“Kitamura’s novels are short, sharp and deadly. I’m not sure there’s anyone better writing in America today.”—The Guardian One woman, the performance of a lifetime. Or two. A mesmerizing novel that asks who we are to the people we love. Two people meet for lunch in a Manhattan restaurant. She’s an elegant and accomplished actress in rehearsals for an upcoming premiere. He’s attractive, troubling, and young—young enough to be her son. Who is he to her – and who is she to him? In this compulsively readable, brilliantly constructed novel, two competing narratives unspool, rewriting our understanding of the roles we play every day – partner, parent, creator, muse – and the truths every performance masks, especially from those who think they know us best. Taut, hypnotic, Audition is Katie Kitamura at her virtuosic best.