A passionate but ultimately tragic love affair starts when two students - one French, one English - meet at university at the beginning of the 60s. From its tentative, unpromising early stages, the relationship develops into a life-changing one, whose profound impact continues to reverberate 40 years later. 'Melvyn Bragg has added another formidable chapter to one of the most distinguished literary series of recent times' David Robson, Sunday Telegraph It was not love at first sight. It proved to be not much of a conversation...Nothing should have come of it. A passionate but ultimately tragic love affair starts when two students - one French, one English - meet at university at the beginning of the sixties. From its tentative early stages, the relationship develops into a life-changing one, whose profound impact continues to reverberate forty years later. 'Daring and brave...With great skill and stunning insight, Bragg doesn't just tell a very tragic tale, he explores what it really means to love and be loved...eclipses anything Bragg has written before' Henry Sutton, Daily Mirror 'A powerful novel that communicates difficult emotional truths. Yet its dark themes are balanced by the vivid portrait it paints of 1960s London' Frank Egerton, The Times 'Utterly absorbing. Melvyn Bragg is worth a host of more fashionable writers. He never shows off, but tells us how it is' Allan Massie, Scotsman 'A terrific book' John Harding, Daily Mail