'This is an intense, claustrophobic tale full of the sights, sounds and particularly smells evoked by a hothouse Parisian summer. Rachel Kendall takes her heroine ever deeper into an existential crisis exacerbated by artistic failings and an uneven relationship with her male partner Z. The lush prose will convince you that you've been to every cafe and exhibition the city of lovers has to offer; the plot will wrench at both your heart and your psyche. This book is for everyone who's ever read Camus or Sartre or who's ever taken the metro or smoked a Gauloise by the Seine and wondered: who am I really? Kendall's gripping narrative conjures strange and stranger days indeed.' (Allen Ashley, British Fantasy Award winner.)"