Description

‘Marvellous entertainment’ Sunday Times

Just married and newly arrived in Los Angeles are Paul and Katherine Cattleman. Paul responds immediately to the sunny, sprawling cosmopolitan city but to Katherine the main impression is of dirt and smog. Paul explores his surroundings and discovers Ceci, a girl who could be the incarnation of the city’s uninhibited ways, while Katherine meets Iz a psychiatrist who recognises her unhappiness and sets out to help her. Under the bright west coast sun, the city begins to affect the couple in separate, subtle but significant ways, shining new light on their marriage with moving, funny and unexpected consequences.

Publisher Review

The Queen Herod of contemporary fiction Perhaps more shocking than she knows - shocking like Jane Austen, not Genet Lurie shows some really fine ironic humor... An incisive and very witty novel * Kirkus Reviews * I am re-reading with enormous delight and greed. If you're new to them, lucky you: marvellously astute comedies of social, moral and sexual manners, their witty exuberance is nothing short of inspirational. -- Helen Simpson I'm mad about Lurie... I have a thing for over-educated adulterers in fiction * Guardian *