After jilting a highly suitable fiancé, writer Edith Hope has been despatched, in disgrace, be despairing friends to a hotel on the shores of Lake Geneva. Here, amidst the hushed comfort, she pines for the married lover until distracted by the other residents. She is finally forced to face up to herself, and to establish what she really wants in life. A marvellously delicate, melancholic novel. A worthy Booker Prize winner.