This is a sad book about successful people living in fear of judgment and discovery. Duigan has written about a complex woman in her second book, The Biographer. Greer Gordon is a woman who makes deliberate choices. She chooses to leave her husband to live with sensational artist Misha Svoboda – and with this, she chooses to leave behind her past. The arrival of Tony, a young art critic writing a biography of Misha, at their Italian hilltop home rattles Greer. Greer knows that Tony has found out about their time in Australia and is waiting for her, and Misha, to relent and share. Using the idyllic backdrop of Italy and of Misha’s paintings, Tony and Greer wait it out until the truth cannot be hidden in a diary any longer. Duigan takes her time getting the reader to the crux of the story; but when you arrive, the bitter sweetness of it all is worth it.