A COMING-OF-AGE TALE OF ADVENTURE AND LOVE, FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF REBECCA

'She wrote exciting plots . . . a writer of fearless originality' GUARDIAN

'One of the last century's most original literary talents' DAILY TELEGRAPH

'Amazingly vivid' SATURDAY REVIEW

The tumult of living, the glory and the pain. The precious intimacy of little things. I wanted so much and so much.

Moments away from jumping into the swirling Thames, Dick is saved by a passing stranger with a grin, a quip and a cigarette. With his self-assurance and easy charm - and his honesty about having killed a man - Jake has a strange magnetism, and the two men plunge into an intense friendship.

Escaping the oppressive shadow of his poet father, Dick embarks on an adventure of self-discovery through Europe - until he washes up in bohemian Paris, where he resolves to pursue his artistic dreams. But as Jake always warned, no one can stay young forever . . .