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Hargrave has a great eye and ear for close-focus, intimate scenes. Conversations, sexual encounters, and meals are vividly alive...Laure and Erica are richly drawn, in both heart and mind.
- The New York Times
Two young women meet in Paris one sultry summer in a decades-spanning tour de force about the enduring power of young love and the poignant heartbreak of missed chances - perfect for fans of One Day and Normal People.
Erica and Laure meet on the steps of the Sacré-Coeur in Paris, 1978. Erica is a student, relishing her first summer abroad before beginning university at home in England. Laure is studying for her PhD at the Sorbonne, drinking and smoking far too much, and sleeping with a married woman. The moment the two women meet, the spark is undeniable, but their encounter turns into far more than a summer of love. It is the beginning of a relationship that will define their lives and every decision they have yet to make…
Erica and Laure’s love story spans decades, marriage, children, secret trysts, and the agonizing changes - both personal and political - that might mean they can be together, after all. But when life brings them within touching distance again, will they be brave enough to seize a future together?
Beautifully capturing young love and all its complexities, Almost Life is a story of longing for the paths not taken, and the almost lives we live.