' One of the last century's greatest woman writers' Guardian When sixteen-year-old Portia is orphaned she is plunged into the sophisticated & politely treacherous world of her wealthy half-brother's home There she encounters the attractive cad Eddie To him Portia is at once child & woman & he fears her gushing love To her Eddie is the only reason to be alive But when Eddie follows Portia to a sea-side resort the flash of a cigarette lighter in a darkened cinema illuminates a stunning romantic betrayal
- & sets in motion one of the most moving & desperate flights of the heart in modern literature