Would you rather love the more & suffer the more; or love the less & suffer the less? That is I think finally the only real question First love has lifelong consequences but Paul doesn't know anything about that at nineteen At nineteen he's proud of the fact his relationship flies in the face of social convention As he grows older the demands placed on Paul by love become far greater than he could possibly have foreseen Tender & wise The Only Story is a deeply moving novel by one of fiction's greatest mappers of the human heart