'Glamorous, nostalgic and very sexy' Paula Hawkins
'Powerful and devastating... A heady cocktail' Mail on Sunday
'The new Gatsby' Stylist
'Thoroughly sexy and engrossing' Heat
'Nods to classics like The Great Gatsby and Revolutionary Road' Independent
September 1957
Henry and Effie, young newlyweds from Georgia, arrive in Cape May, New Jersey, for their honeymoon. It's the end of the season and the town is deserted.
As they tentatively discover each other, they begin to realize that everyday married life might be disappointingly different from their happily-ever-after fantasy.
Just as they get ready to cut the trip short, a decadent and glamorous set suddenly sweep them up into their drama - Clara, a beautiful socialite who feels her youth slipping away; Max, a wealthy playboy and Clara's lover; and Alma, Max's aloof and mysterious half-sister.
The empty beach town becomes their playground, and as they sneak into abandoned summer homes, go sailing, walk naked under the stars, make love, and drink a great deal of gin, Henry and Effie slip from innocence into betrayal, with irrevocable consequences that reverberate through the rest of their lives...
'Gorgeous, seductive storytelling, martini-dry prose reminiscent of James Salter's finest. I loved it' Lucy Foley, author of THE HUNTING PARTY
'An exquisitely crafted exploration of young love, the power of desire, and the lifelong ramifications of choices made in an instant... A modern classic' Whitney Scharer, author of THE AGE OF LIGHT
Cape May, New Jersey.
September 1957.
Newlyweds Henry and Effie arrive from Georgia for their honeymoon. It's the end of the summer season, and as they tentatively discover each other - walking on the deserted beach overlooking the vast, darkening Atlantic, clumsily making love in the dusty rooms of a distant relative's house - they begin to realize that everyday married life might be disappointingly different from their happy-ever-after fantasy.
Just as they get ready to cut the trip short and leave Cape May, a light goes on in one of the houses on their street. In that one moment their destiny is altered forever.
A glamorous set suddenly disrupt their newly-formed married life and sweep them up into their drama: there's Clara, a beautiful socialite who feels her youth slipping away; Max, a wealthy playboy and Clara's lover; and Alma, Max's aloof and mysterious half-sister, to whom Henry is irresistibly drawn.
The empty town becomes their playground, and as they sneak into abandoned summer homes, go sailing, walk naked under the stars, marvel at the power and beauty of their bodies, experiment with love and sex, and drink massive amounts of gin, Henry and Effie slip from innocence into betrayal, with consequences that reverberate through the rest of their lives.
Unexpectedly affecting.
