A beautifully wrought and unlikely love story, shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award- 'Sublimely funny and moving...by the time I'd finished this sleek little novel I'd laughed out loud numerous times and, eventually, cried.' Independent


A beautiful and unlikely love story about what unites us from the bestselling author of Captain Corelli's Mandolin.

Chris is in his forties- bored, lonely, trapped in a loveless, sexless marriage.
He's a stranger to the 1970s youth culture of London, a stranger to himself on the night he invites a prostitute into his car.
Roza has recently moved to London from eastern Europe. She's in her twenties, but has already lived a life filled with danger, misadventure, romance, and tragedy. And though she's not a prostitute, when she's propositioned by Chris, she gets into his car anyway.

Over the next few months Roza tells Chris the stories of her past. She's a fast-talking Scheherazade, saving her own life by telling it to Chris. And he takes in her tales as if they were oxygen in an otherwise airless world. But is Roza telling the truth? Does it even matter?

'Sublimely funny and moving' Independent