Douglas Kennedy: Isabelle in the Afternoon [2020] paperback

'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 love's many contradictions. Sam is instantly smitten - but wary of the wedding ring on her finger.

What begins as a regular arrangement in Isabelle's 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