Description

Almost Life is Kiran Millwood Hargrave’s breathtaking story of love and longing, of the lives we almost live and the choices we don’t make – and finding the courage to embrace who you really want to be.

‘Immersive, sensual, beautiful and powerful’ – Marian Keyes, author of My Favourite Mistake
‘Tender, sensual and thrumming with life’ – Lucy Steeds, author of The Artist

One chance encounter can define a lifetime

Erica and Laure meet on the steps of the Sacre-Coeur in Paris, 1978. Erica is a student, relishing her first summer abroad before beginning university at home in England. Laure is studying for her Ph.D. at the Sorbonne, drinking and smoking far too much, and sleeping with a married woman.

The moment the two women meet the spark is undeniable. But their encounter turns into far more than a summer of love. It is the beginning of a relationship that will define their lives and every decision they have yet to make. Spanning cities, decades and heartbreaks, fate brings them within touching distance again and again.

But will they be brave enough to seize the life they truly want?

‘Hot, smart and completely captivating’ – Daisy Buchanan, author of Pity Party
‘A beautifully told story about love, longing, and the lives we almost live’ – Louise O’Neill, author of Idol

Publisher Review

Hot, smart and completely captivating – this is a truly luscious love story. I’ll never forget it. — Daisy Buchanan, author of Insatiable A beautifully told story about love, longing, and the lives we almost live. — Louise O’Neill, author of Idol Erica and Laure have made me think about MY life, about love and friendship and how short life is . . . immersive, sensual, beautiful and powerful — Marian Keyes, author of My Favourite Mistake A rippling elegy to the possibilities and impossibilities of love. Tender, sensual and thrumming with life, Kiran Millwood Hargrave swirls heady prose into both a lament and a celebration of the choices we make, the passions that consume us, and the almost lives we almost live. — Lucy Steeds, author of The Artist Almost Life is captivating and immersive, a soaring ode to both love’s possibilities and its pain. Richly rendered and deeply felt, Laure and Erica will stay with me for a long time. — Sophie Mackintosh, Booker-longlisted author of The Water Cure Love, loss, joy, cowardice, bravery, sex, friendship, love, more love, always love, Paris, London, Norfolk, and four decades of longing: a masterpiece from a writer at the height of her powers. — Ella Risbridger, author of The Year of Miracles Devastating and heartbreaking, with the pain and joy and despair of wanting and being in love so rich on every page. A singular book from a beautiful writer about two women I will never forget. — Kate Young, author of Experienced Rich, evocative, stylish and sexy – a gorgeously crafted novel of epic love and epic life. Almost Life is as heartbreaking as it is deeply human. — Kirsty Capes, author of Girls