'An electrifying, word-perfect tale. Gently devastating, devastatingly beautiful' Daily Mail 'Funny , piercing and singular . I can't fathom the reason why you wouldn't rush straight out to buy it ' Observer Determined, rebellious Marianne Clifford is searching for love and freedom in 1960s London How do you find the courage to make your own life? Marianne Clifford, teenage daughter of a peppery army colonel and his vain wife, falls helplessly and absolutely for eighteen-year-old Simon Hurst, whose cleverness and physical beauty suggest that he will go forward into a successful and monied future, helped on by doting parents. But fate intervenes. Simon's plans are blown off course, he leaves for Paris and Marianne is forced to bury her dreams of a future together. It is Marianne who tells this piercing story of first love, characterising herself as ignorant and unworthy, whilst her smart, ironic narration tellingly reveals so much more. Finding her way in 1960s Chelsea, and supported by her courageous Scottish friend, Petronella, she continues to seek the life she never stops craving. And in Paris, beneath his blithe exterior, Simon Hurst continues to nurse the secret which will alter everything.

'' Lively and emotional . Not many novelists of this calibre are so easy to read and hard to put down ' Sunday Times ' Powerful . Full of the insights and the shining quality of writing that one can always expect from this accomplished novelist' Daily Express 'M asterly and profoundly moving' Financial Times ' M oving, evocative and mesmerising in its acuity' Mail on Sunday '[A] delicate, generous-hearted novel' Spectator READERS LOVE ABSOLUTELY AND FOREVER . ' Heartrending, funny, unputdownable ' 5***** 'Rose Tremain has once again delivered an undoubted modern classic ' 5***** ' Marianne will remain with me as a friend ' 5***** 'A masterclass in character and world building . the writing is just sublime ' 5*****.