The Only Story

Cover Art for 9781787330696, The Only Story by Julian Barnes
ISBN: 9781787330696
Publisher: Jonathan Cape
Published: 1 February, 2018
Format: Hardcover
Language: English
Saving: Saving: $76.05 or 78%

'Most of us have only one story to tell. I don't mean that only one thing happens to us in our lives- there are countless events, which we turn into countless stories. But there's only one that matters, only one finally worth telling. This is mine.' It is the early 1960s, and in a staid suburb fifteen miles south of London Paul, nineteen, home from university for the holidays, is urged by his mother to join the tennis club. At the mixed doubles tournament he is partnered with a Mrs Macleod. She is forty-eight, confident, ironic. Her first name is Susan; she is married with two grown-up daughters. Soon Paul and Susan are lovers. In The Only Story Paul looks back at how they fell in love, how he freed her from a sterile marriage, how they set up together, and how, very slowly, everything fell apart. This is a profound, achingly sad novel about love by one of fiction's greatest mappers of the human heart and its vagaries.

Booko is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more

Shop Preferences

Customize which shops to display. You can include the following shops by logging in to change your settings.

Booko is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more

Historical Prices

Loading...
This graph is for informational purposes only. Occasionally pricing data is captured incorrectly, through bugs in Booko or the stores supplying data, which may distort the graph, providing undue hope that even lower prices sometimes appear.

Recently Updated