Every Exquisite Thing

Steven (Our Infinite Fates) highlights challenges associated with disordered eating and anorexia in this clever reimagining of The Portrait of Dorian Gray as a dark fantasy thriller. “Extremely gay” aspiring actor Penny Paxton, who cues as white, enrolls at Dorian Drama Academy in the countryside near Edinburgh, the school that launched her emotionally distant, substance-reliant mother to supermodel fame. There, Penny—struggling to manage insecurity that’s exacerbated by her alopecia—copes by overexercising and restricting food. When she’s introduced to a mysterious artist, she commissions them to paint her portrait, which they claim will age and change while Penny’s corporeal body remains eternally young. Determined to look her thinnest, Penny amps up her dieting and arrives to her sitting famished. Once her portrait is complete, though, she learns that she has unwittingly doomed herself to a life of eternal hunger. Things take a deadly turn when one of the artist’s former clients, a Dorian alumnus, is murdered. Despite occasionally muddy worldbuilding and a somewhat unsatisfying resolution, intelligent reflections about anorexia’s patriarchal connections enrich a twisty, intriguing novel that excavates body politics as well as the darker side of beauty and ambition. Ages 13–up. Agent: Chloe Seager, Madeleine Milburn Literary. (May)