THE PARTY

An irresistible novella about two sisters and a night that changes everything from the master chronicler of our heart s hidden desires Tessa Hadley is my favourite author KATE ATKINSON Evelyn had the surprising thought that bodies were sometimes wiser than the people inside them She d have liked to impress somebody with this idea but couldn t explain it 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 Few writers give me such consistent pleasure ZADIE SMITH Hadley s extraordinary skill is making both surface life and deep interiors come fully alive COLM TÓIBÍN Tessa Hadley recruits admirers with each book HILARY MANTEL