INTRODUCED BY JONATHAN KEATES

'Jane Austen, Elizabeth Taylor, Barbara Pym, Elizabeth Bowen - soul-sisters all' ANNE TYLER

'An author of great subtlety, great compassion and great depth' SARAH WATERS


'Always intelligent, often subversive and never dull,Elizabeth Taylor is the thinking person's dangerous housewife. Hersophisticated prose combines elegance, icy wit and freshness in a stimulating cocktail-the perfect toast to the quiet horror of domestic life' VALERIE MARTIN

When Amy is suddenly left widowed and alone while on holiday in Istanbul, Martha, an American traveller, comforts her and accompanies her back to England. Upon their return, however, Amy is ungratefully reluctant to maintain their relationship, recognising that, under any other circumstances, the two women would not be friends. But guilt is a hard taskmaster, and Martha has away of getting under one's skin ...