The acclaimed author of The Road Home (winner of the Orange Prize), Music & Silence (winner of Whitbread Novel of the Year), and Lily (a Richard & Judy Book Club selection), Dame Rose Tremain talks to the Monocle Radio Books Editor about her piercing story of thwarted love and true friendship in 1960s London.

Marianne falls absolutely for Simon, whose cleverness and physical beauty hold the promise of a successful and monied future. But fate intervenes, Simon’s plans are blown off course, and Marianne is forced to bury her dreams of a future together. Seeming to underestimate her own worth, she nonetheless continues to seek the life she craves. But beneath his blithe exterior, Simon has been nursing a secret that will alter everything.