Reginald Mason is a gentleman, though not by birth, a matter that pains his self-made father, Bernard Mason. An opportunity for social advancement arises in Lady Annabelle Ashton, disgraced daughter of the Earl of Havercroft, an enemy of the Mason family. The Earl is willing to marry her off to any wealthy man, even Reggie, but Reggie prefers to live the single life so Bernard issues an ultimatum: marry Annabelle or do without family funds.

"A glimpse into a beloved novelist's inner world, shaped by family, art, and literature. In her fiction, Claire Messud "has specialized in creating unusual female characters with ferocious, imaginative inner lives" (Ruth Franklin, New York Times Magazine). Kant's Little Prussian Head and Other Reasons Why I Write opens a window on Messud's own life: a peripatetic upbringing; a warm, complicated family; and, throughout it all, her devotion to art and...