The Party - by Tessa Hadley (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

An irresistible novella about two sisters and a night that changes everything, from the master chronicler of our heart's hidden desires

"Hadley is pure magic." ―Lily King, New York Times bestselling author of Heart the Lover

"A coming-of-age story humming with all the tightly packed resonances of a poem." ―Financial Times

On a winter Saturday night in post-war Bristol, sisters Moira and Evelyn, on the cusp of adulthood, go to an art students' party in a dockside pub; there they meet two men, Paul and Sinden, whose air of worldliness and sophistication both intrigues and repels them. Sinden calls a few days later to invite them over to the grand suburban mansion Paul shares with his brother and sister, and Moira accepts despite Evelyn's misgivings.

As the night unfolds in this unfamiliar, glamorous new setting, the sisters learn things about themselves and each other that shock them, and release them into a new phase of their lives.

About the Author

TESSA HADLEY is the author of four collections of stories, eight novels, a novella, and an essay collection. She has been awarded the Windham-Campbell Prize for Fiction, the Hawthornden Prize, and the Edge Hill Short Story Prize and was a finalist for the Story Prize. She contributes regularly to The New Yorker and reviews for The Guardian and the London Review of Books. She lives in Cardiff, Wales.