'Beautifully written and extraordinarily moving' SUNDAY TIMES
'A powerful story of love, conscience, will and desire' OBSERVER
'A poised and well-judged work' FINANCIAL TIMES

Anne Louvet needs to escape from Paris and from memories she cannot face. In the year 1936 she arrives at the faded Hotel du Lion d'Or on the Brittany coast, to work as a maid. There she meets Hartmann, a man she believes will change her life and save her from her past.

From the author of Birdsong, comes a deeply moving story of love and conscience, will and desire.

[A] story of restrained emotions played out in a period setting among picturesque locations . . . Faulks gives every sign of being a real novelist, who thinks and feels through the written word * Guardian *

Sebastian Faulks has written nineteen books, of which A Week in December and The Fatal Englishman were number one in the Sunday Times bestseller lists. He is best known for Birdsong, part of his French trilogy, and Human Traces, the first in an ongoing Austrian trilogy. Before becoming a full-time writer, he worked as a journalist on national papers. He has also written screenplays and has appeared in small roles on stage. He lives in London.