A moving story of passion and heartbreak from the internationally bestselling author of The Pursuit of Happiness and The Woman in the Fifth

'A touching exploration of passion untested by domesticity' Mail on Sunday

Before Isabelle I knew nothing of sex.
Before Isabelle I knew nothing of freedom.
Before Isabelle I knew nothing of life.

Paris in the early Seventies. Sam, an American student, meets a woman in a bookshop. Isabelle is enigmatic, beautiful, older and, unlike Sam, experienced in love's many contradictions. Sam is instantly smitten - but wary of the wedding ring on her finger.

What begins as a regular arrangement in Isabelle's tiny Parisian apartment transforms into a true affair of the heart, and one which lasts for decades to come.

Isabelle in the Afternoon is a novel that questions what we seek, what we find, what we settle for - and shows how love, when not lived day in, day out, can become the passion of a lifetime.

Praise for Douglas Kennedy

'The absolute master of love stories with heart-stopping twists' THE TIMES

'Kennedy is skilled at zigzag plotting, blending domestic twists with turns created by global
affairs' OBSERVER