New York, NY: Knopf | Random House (2016)

First Edition. Signed on tipped in page.

Fine in dust jacket.

An intensely moving novella that begins with a secret lovers’ assignation one spring day in 1924, then unfolds to reveal the whole of a remarkable life.

Twenty-two-year-old Jane Fairchild, a maid at an English country house, and Paul Sheringham, young heir of a neighboring estate, are secret lovers, meeting on an unseasonably warm March day—Mothering Sunday—for what Jane imagines is the last time. Paul is about to be married to a woman more befitting his social status, so the time has come to end the affair. But events unfold in ways Jane could never have predicted. As the narrative moves back and forth from 1924 to the end of the century, what we know and understand about Jane—about the way she loves, thinks, feels, sees, and remembers—expands with every beautifully vivid moment. Her story is one of profound self-discovery and through her, Booker Prize-winning novelist Graham Swift has created an emotionally soaring and deeply affecting work of fiction.