Untitled 1 Purves - Couverture souple

Sally, Kate and Marienka. Three young women who meet as undergraduates in 1970s Oxford and share their romantically shabby canalside house with Max Bellinger - clever, attractive, enigmatic Max.

Sally - our narrator - idolises Max, who is something of an homme fatale. But it is Max's wayward rock singer brother, Marty, who is to play the most important role in her life, when one of his songs (for which she provided the lyrics) becomes an unexpected hit.

Although their paths diverge once they leave Oxford, Sally stays in touch with all the housemates and their lives remain interwoven throughout the momentous second half of the twentieth century.

'A bouncy and enlightening read' (Good Housekeeping)

'The story is cleverly and compellingly told, full of perceptive insights and reflections, the Seventies period details are squirmingly familiar, the influence of Eng. Lit on a developing emotional consciousness is sensitively woven in, the parallel lives of students then and now are neatly drawn' (Spectator)

'Purves is a fine writer and the slow pace at the start of the novel proves well pitched to heighten the rising tension of the story' (She)

'Purves is good on modern morality, its subtle seductions and its potential to disrupt' (Saga)