About the Author

Madeleine St John is the author of The Women in Black, A Pure Clear Light, The Essence of the Thing (which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize), and A Stairway to Paradise. She died in 2006.

Reviews

‘Not much in the way of folly escapes Madeleine St John, and the oubliette she opens into the darker reaches of the spirit is unsettling.’
*The Times*

‘St John proves herself a comic, humane observer.’
*Newsday*

‘Madeleine St John is brilliant on the elliptical way lovers talk to each other.’
*Daily Telegraph*