Background for Love

In a giddy rush, a young woman and her older lover leave 1930s Berlin for a summer vacation on the Côte d’Azur. They seem marvellously in sync, each enchanted by the other. But soon she observes her lover’s wandering eye and rigid world-view and decides to leave in search of a cottage of her own near Saint-Tropez. There, amid the vineyards and lemon trees, she forges startling new connections and spends an unforgettable summer of independence and freedom.

This is a lushly atmospheric, irresistible novel of passion and self-discovery. Background for Love is an autobiographical novel and included here is a fascinating companion essay by historian Marion Detjen, the author’s great-niece.

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It’s a story that balances delicious excitement with a little light tension.

John Self

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