Book description
K, a middle-aged painter, has returned from a hermit-like existence in
Chile to attend the wedding of a girl he once loved to the point of
obsession. He arrives at the English country church to find it empty and
silent. The wedding has been postponed. He drives back to his hotel - a
place he'd visited many years before - opens a bottle of champagne and
with it, a door to the past.
When K first saw Claudia fifteen years before, he fell instantly and
dangerously in love. He managed to forget he had a wife and a life
already full. It was a coup de foudre; he became consumed by her. But
Claudia was little more than a child then, twenty-four years his junior,
beautiful but unformed. Perhaps it was no surprise that their love
proved to be so destructive and ultimately tragic. Now, years later, he
returns to find this new bride, his old love, is on the verge of a very
different future. But the past, inevitably, awaits them both - and he is
determined to take her back there. Rachel Billington has published
many novels. She has been President of PEN, and is co-editor of INSIDE
TIME, the national newspaper for prisoners. She is married to the film
and theatre director Kevin Billington and has four children.
