First published 2001
Anna Raine needs to get away from Somerset and her mother. She craves a different kind of adult to model herself after. When her mother's younger sister Stella offers Anna a place in her Bloomsbury flat, Anna jumps at the chance. Stella lives with thrilling recklessness, everything Anna's controlled life has lacked. Anna moves to London convinced that fame and success will naturally follow from this bold new beginning. But living with Stella proves more complicated than Anna imagined. The freedom she sought comes with costs she didn't anticipate. Anna must navigate the gap between her romantic expectations and the messy reality of adult life in the city. At its heart, this is a story about a young woman learning that escape alone cannot transform her into the person she wants to become.
Genres: literary-fiction, coming-of-age, contemporary, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: Somerset, Bloomsbury, London
Period: 20th-century
Hardcover · Picador