First published 2012
Ned and Isabel Bourne pack their bags for London with grand visions of artistic success. He has talent and charisma. She has beauty and ambition. They believe their marriage can survive anything as they pursue their creative dreams across London, New York, and Maine. But sexual desire proves more complicated than either expected. Old lovers resurface. New attractions emerge. Doubt creeps into their bed. Isabel questions what she wants. Ned struggles with his own longings. Their fantasies about the future begin to crumble under the weight of reality. Everything changes when they meet Clive Harris, an established artist, and his wife Dinah, a poet. This older couple seems to have found something the Bournes lack. They appear content in ways that Ned and Isabel cannot grasp. Through watching Clive and Dinah, the younger couple must confront a painful truth about the difference between those who find fulfillment in love and those who spend their lives searching for it.
Genres: drama, romance, literary-fiction, contemporary
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, friends-to-lovers
Setting: London, New York, Maine
Period: Contemporary
256 pages · Hardcover · Grove Press