After a childhood marked by pain, Rena Greenblatt has found the strength to build a successful career as a photographer. Like the ultrasensitive infrared film she uses, Rena sees what others don't see, and finds a form of love. By photographing men's bodies, she hopes to glimpse their souls.

Away from her lover, Aziz, stuck in Florence with her infuriating stepmother and her ageing, unwell father, Rena confronts the masterpieces of the Renaissance alongside the banal inconveniences of a family holiday. At the same time, she finds herself travelling into dark and passionate memories of desire that lead her into a series of disturbing revelations.

A native of Calgary and of New Hampshire, Nancy Huston now lives in Paris; she writes in both French and English. The author of nine novels and numerous works of non-fiction, she has won the Prix Goncourt des Lycéens, the Prix du Livre-Inter, the Prix Elle, the Governor General's Award for Fiction in French and the 2006 Prix Femina.Fault Lines, her previous novel, was shortlisted for the Orange Prize.