Britain's beloved bestselling author delivers "a droll comedy of manners" in a story of desire and dalliances in a provincial English town (Los Angeles Times). Laura Thornby is the kind of woman every man wants—despite their better judgment. Urbane, seductively aloof, and charmingly intrusive, she is the older woman every younger man dreams of bedding, if not wedding. When Claud Bannister meets Laura at a concert, he cannot get her out of his mind. And she cannot resist the chance to interfere in his life. As Laura begins molding Claud into a new man, from finding him a new place to live to orchestrating his attempts to become a novelist, her influence over him is undeniable. But his impact on her is underestimated. As the situation slowly spirals out of Laura's carefully constructed control, both of them will discover more about themselves—and their connection to each other—than they ever realized before. Crackling with wit, and sizzling with romance, this "mordantly humorous take on upper-middle-class British life has a sharp and entertaining edge" only Mary Wesley could hone (Publishers Weekly).