Caroline's Bikini

‘Alright’ I said, ‘I'll try...’ This is how Emily Stuart opens her intricate tale of a classic love affair that becomes Caroline's Bikini: a swirling cocktail of infatuation, obsession, and imagination.

The moment that Emily's friend Evan Gordonstone - a successful middle-aged financier - meets Caroline Beresford - a glamorous former horsewoman, and now housewife, hostess, and landlady - there is a 'PING!' At least, that's how Evan describes it to Emily when he persuades her to record his story: the story of falling into unrequited love, which is as old as Western literature itself. Thus begins a hypnotic series of conversations set against the beguiling backdrop of West London's bars, fuelled in intensity by endless G&Ts and Q&As. From the depths of mid-winter to July's hot swelter, Emily's narration of Evan's passion for Caroline will take him to the brink of his own destruction.

Written in a voice so playful, so charismatic, and so thoughtfully aware of the responsibilities of fiction it can only be by Kirsty Gunn, Caroline's Bikini is a swooning portrait of courtly love - in a modern world not celebrated for its restraint and abstraction. Ready. Steady. Go!

„Bine”, am spus, „voi incerca ...” Asa isi deschide Emily Stuart povestea ei complicata despre o poveste de dragoste clasica care devine Bikini-ul Carolinei: un cocktail involburat de pasiune, obsesie si imaginatie. Evan Gordonstone - un finantator de succes cu varsta mijlocie - o intalneste pe Caroline Beresford - o fosta calareta plina de farmec si acum gospodina, gazda si gospodina - exista un „PING!” Cel putin, asa ii descrie Evan lui Emily cand o convinge sa-si inregistreze povestea: povestea caderii in dragoste neimpartasita, care este la fel de veche ca literatura occidentala in sine.