''A touching exploration of passion untested by domesticity'' Mail on Sunday Before Isabelle I knew nothing of sex. Before Isabelle I knew nothing of freedom. Before Isabelle I knew nothing of life. Paris in the early Seventies. Sam, an American student, meets a woman in a bookshop. Isabelle is enigmatic, beautiful, older and, unlike Sam, experienced in love''s many contradictions. Sam is instantly smitten - but wary of the wedding ring on her finger. What begins as a regular arrangement in Isabelle''s tiny Parisian apartment transforms into a true affair of the heart, and one which lasts for decades to come. Isabelle in the Afternoon is a novel that questions what we seek, what we find, what we settle for - and shows how love, when not lived day in, day out, can become the passion of a lifetime. Praise for Douglas Kennedy ''The absolute master of love stories with heart-stopping twists'' THE TIMES ''Kennedy is skilled at zigzag plotting, blending domestic twists with turns created by global affairs'' OBSERVER