An irresistible novella about two sisters and a night that changes everything from the master
chronicler of our heart's hidden desires Evelyn had the surprising thought that bodies were
sometimes wiser than the people inside them. She'd have liked to impress somebody with this
idea but couldn't explain it. On a winter Saturday night in post-war Bristol sisters Moira
and Evelyn on the cusp of adulthood go to an art students' party in a dockside pub there
they meet two men Paul and Sinden whose air of worldliness and sophistication both intrigues
and repels them. Sinden gets hold of their phone number but the sisters don't expect further
contact and are surprised when he calls a few days later to invite them to another party at
the grand suburban mansion Paul shares with his brother and sister. Moira accepts despite
Evelyn's misgivings and as the night unfolds in this unfamiliar glamorous new setting the
sisters learn things about themselves and each other that shock them and release them into a
new phase of their lives. In this irresistible novella of two young women coming of age Tessa
Hadley explores the ever-changing desires the sudden revelations and the lasting mysteries
that are bound up with who we are and who we might become.
