Imogen Crimp’s second novel is a gripping exploration of art, power and femininity – an almost plotless page-turner propelled by the evolving dynamic between three female characters. Give Me Everything You’ve Got initially seems to be a study of a mentor–protégée relationship in a contemporary country house. As the narrative unfurls, the house takes on the qualities of a Gothic mansion and Crimp explores idolisation and the elusive nature of the creative life.

The narrator, Ruby, has spent her twenties in London tutoring and trying to break into the film industry. Her ambition has left her drifting and a little desperate, but a small burst of success leads to an invitation to spend the summer at an unspecified countryside location with a director she adores, an older woman named Ellen. When Ruby arrives, she finds Ellen and her twenty-year-old daughter, Lara, cavorting around a gorgeous red-brick house. The pair seem to be putting on a show for Ruby, entertaining but also excluding her with stories from Lara’s childhood punctuated by inside jokes. 

Over the days that follow, Ellen asks Ruby increasingly intrusive questions. At one intense dinner, she refills Ruby’s wine glass while interrogating her about her sex life. Ruby ends up confessing to role play with her ex, a threesome with strangers and feelings of disgust about her own fertility. The