'Unsettling, addictive, and razor-sharp, Francesca Reece is a devastatingly compelling new voice in literary fiction' Louise O'Neill

WRITER SEEKS ASSISTANT TO HELP WITH ARCHIVING/RESEARCH FOR A NEW NOVEL. Don't bother to apply if your name is Shakespearean or classical.

PARIS AND SOUTH. PART-TIME.

Leah, a young woman who has found herself 'ambitioned' out of London, is now aimlessly adrift in Paris. Tired of odd jobs in cafés and teaching English to unresponsive social media influencers, her heart skips a beat when she spots an advert for a writer seeking an assistant.

Michael was once the bright young star of the London literary scene, now a washed-up author with writer's block. He doesn't place much hope in the advert, but after meeting Leah is filled with an inspiration he hasn't felt in years.

When Michael offers Leah the opportunity to join him and his family in their rambling but glorious property in the south of France for the summer, she finally feels her luck is turning. But as she begins to transcribe the diaries from his debauched life in 1960s Soho, something begins to nag at Leah's sense of fulfilment; that there might be more to Michael than meets the eye.

(P) 2021 Headline Publishing Group Limited