 The second novel from Betty Trask Prize-winning, WH Smith ‘Fresh Talent’ and Observer ‘Debut authors from 2014’ pick Alex Christofi

A poignant love story set in the wake of the Second World War.

Paris, 1958. After a chance encounter, Ralf and Elsa begin a love affair that will change everything.

Both of them bear scars from their continent’s violent upheavals. The end of the war brought Ralf to Paris, where he feels he can both hide from the past and try to gradually overcome it. Elsa meanwhile tries to hide her past from Ralf, but as they fall more deeply in love she faces a dilemma – can she trust him to forgive her for all of her transgressions?

In a Paris recovering from the Second World War but riven by protests and discontent as the old wold order falls away, Ralf tries desperately to hold on to the only person he has ever felt he belongs with, while facing the prospect of a reality where love might not be enough.

Deeply moving and sweeping in scope, Alex Christofi’s second novel is an unforgettable love story as well as a profoundly affecting study of the personal cost of Europe’s bloody 20th century.

 

Alex Christofi was born and grew up in Dorset. After reading English at the University of Oxford, he moved to London to work in publishing. He has written a number of short pieces for theatre, and blogs about arts and culture for Prospect magazine. His first novel Glass was also published by Serpent’s Tail, and won the Betty Trask Prize.