THE PORTRAIT OF A MIRROR is a modern reinterpretation of the Ovidian myth of Narcissus, following two couples in the summer of 2015.

It takes place primarily in New York City and Philadelphia, with jaunts to Nantucket, Montauk, and Paris. While primarily a character-driven satirical novel of manners, it does have a plot. The style is traditional and maximalist (and a little in love with itself), with formally diverse interludes interspersed throughout.

It is published by the Overlook Press (ABRAMS) in 2021 and you can buy it here or request it from your local library.

The novel was reviewed at length in Coveteur and Genealogies of Modernity, and was a Vulture Notable New Release. It was also recommended by The Atlantic as one of “The Best Books to Read With Someone You Love.”

An excerpt was published in Literary Hub.

If you’re interested in learning more about the novel, I wrote a bit about it alongside seven other norm-subverting novels I admire for Electric Literature, published my “Research Notes” in Necessary Fiction, and applied Marshal McLuhan’s page 69 test to it (nice).

You can find the novel’s reader discussion guide (PDF) from Overlook here.

interviews

• with Lauren Oyler at Greenlight Bookstore (launch event)

• with Jia Tolentino at Literati Bookstore

• History of Literature Podcast

• Chaucer’s Books event

praise

“Joukovsky’s prose, like the best parts of Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom or Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, demands the reader’s fullest attention. Clever and witty and intricate, Joukovsky’s voice emphasizes her characters’ best features, like candlelight in a luxurious hotel bar. Fans of Cristina Alger’s The Darlings or the show Succession will devour this richly-layered portrait of two couples caught at a crossroads.” —Booklist *STARRED* Review

“Joukovsky’s ability to both skewer and sympathize with her characters would impress Edith Wharton herself.” —Vulture

"This delightful, perfectly rendered novel is filled with gossip and charged exchanges, bad decisions made by rich people, but also some pretty interesting questions about art and value, all of it filtered through the legend of Narcissus...I was beyond charmed." —Lit Hub

“Joukovsky's dialogue is quippy, sharp; stylistically, the voice is similar to Edith Wharton and plotwise, it's reminiscent of Mary McCarthy's The Group. Even with these more classic influences, the novel strikes a very contemporary tone.”—Coveteur

“This contemporary novel of manners is so sly and sharp and well-observed, so densely witty and full of piercing offhand observation: There’s a world of pleasure in the intellectual force and formidable voice of A. Natasha Joukovsky’s debut. As a not-quite-love story about deceptive infatuation, The Portrait of a Mirror is both rich with indulgence and caustic with spiraling self-knowledge; it’s a macaron that might be hiding a razor blade, ready to be devoured nonetheless." —Jia Tolentino, New York Times bestselling author of Trick Mirror

“I can’t stop thinking about A. Natasha Joukovsky’s characters. I want to be friends with them, and drink too many Bloody Marys with them; I’m also terrified of what they’d say about me behind my back. The Portrait of a Mirror is a wickedly fun debut—a novel that floats seamlessly between Ovid and dive bars, and that shows us the perils of getting exactly what we want.” —Grant Ginder, author of The People We Hate at the Wedding

“The Portrait of a Mirror is an absolute delight: an intellectually dazzling, deliciously wicked novel about love, art, illusion, and modernity—not to mention a pitch-perfect satire of New York’s beautiful people. I devoured it in a state of ecstatic thrall, feeling quite as hypnotized and insatiable as Narcissus himself, and not the least bit sorry about it.” —Emily Temple, author ofThe Lightness

“The Portrait of a Mirror is part sex comedy, part satire about the world’s most hatable people. Joukovsky is unsparing—and hilarious—on the topics of marriage, success, and the self-absorption of the privileged class. Like overhearing a deliciously awful conversation at a Manhattan restaurant.” —Erin Somers, author of Stay Up with Hugo Best

 “I think Ovid would be pleased.” —Paul Barolsky, author of Ovid and the Metamorphosis of Modern Art from Botticelli to Picasso