First published 1971
Aldo Cassidy has it all - a thriving business, a Bentley, a bourgeois life. But a chance encounter with charismatic writer Shamus upends Aldo's comfortable existence. As their passionate friendship deepens, Aldo finds himself drawn into Shamus' intoxicating world, smitten with both his new friend and Shamus' alluring wife. Aldo's plunge into reckless hedonism threatens to consume them all in this dark, ribald send-up of middle-class and bohemian pretensions.
Genres: fiction, romance, literary-fiction, contemporary
Vibes: dark, emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, fish-out-of-water
Setting: County Cork, Denver, England, Havedown, Ireland, London, Oxford, Scotland, Somerset, Wales
Period: 1970s
429 pages · Mass Market Paperback · Pan Books
Content warnings: sexual-content