A dazzling story of female friendship, the cost of a creative life, and the secrets that can undo us.
At a private East Coast college, two outsiders meet in art class. Mel is brash, brilliant, and wild. Sharon is shy, lovelorn, but ambitious. Together, they become an award-winning animation duo, living and working in Brooklyn, making short autobiographical films.
But when the pair decide to base a new project on a long-buried childhood encounter, it forces them to examine the relationships they have with their families, lovers, and even each other.
Two friends who initially meet in art class and find common ground in their dysfunctional working class families and drawing abilities become an award-winning animation duo as the years go by, but self-doubt brings forth cracks in the relationship and long-held resentments.
'I never stopped being surprised by The Animators. Not just by the beautifully and organically engineered twists and turns of its plot, but by its sensitive tracing of the ebbs and flows of the friendship and creative partnership at its heart. Sharon and Mel - the animators of the title - are as brilliantly drawn as two of their own creations, and I felt powerfully invested in them all the way through. If A Little Life made you cry, this is the novel for you.'
