Siri Hustvedt returns to the New York art world in this novel, following her most famous book "What I Loved." "The Blazing World" is the title of a utopian novel by Margaret Cavendish, who was one of the first women to publish under her own name in the 17th century. As an early polymath, she serves as a role model and idol for Harriett Burden, the widow of an influential New York gallerist. After his untimely death in the 1970s, Harriett—perceived publicly as nothing more than the woman beside the famous man, but in reality highly talented—embarks on a secret experiment: a career as an installation artist, hiding behind the supposed work of three male "masks," which she has actually created herself. However, the Faustian bargain goes awry—one of these masked men, himself a well-known figure.