* A publishing sensation: a stunning novel based on the author's dramatic and extraordinary true story of life on the run in the Bombay underworld * 'A literary masterpiece ... it has the grit and pace of a thriller' DAILY TELEGRAPH
This collection brings together past and present, probing many and varied lives. The title story examines Jane Austen's love life, while others introduce a trio of Kensington widows, mean-spirited and middle-aged; a stranger, awaited with dread; and the mercurial changes in young love.
Barbara Comyns' classic first novel weaves a vivid, funny tale - told in the unique style of her young narrator - of a chaotic and ultimately tragic childhood on the banks of the River Avon.