Isabelle in the Afternoon

A touching exploration of passion untested by domesticity Mail on Sunday

Before Isabelle I knew nothing of sex.

Before Isabelle I knew nothing of freedom.

Before Isabelle I knew nothing of life.

Paris in the early Seventies. Sam, an American student, meets a woman in a bookshop. Isabelle is enigmatic, beautiful, older and, unlike Sam, experienced in loves many contradictions. Sam is instantly smitten - but wary of the wedding ring on her finger.

What begins as a regular arrangement in Isabelles tiny Parisian apartment transforms into a true affair of the heart, and one which lasts for decades to come.

Isabelle in the Afternoon is a novel that questions what we seek, what we find, what we settle for - and shows how love, when not lived day in, day out, can become the passion of a lifetime.

Praise for Douglas Kennedy

The absolute master of love stories with heart-stopping twists THE TIMES

Kennedy is skilled at zigzag plotting, blending domestic twists with turns created by global

affairs OBSERVER