The Innocents

Francesca Segal

From Shelf: The 2013 Women's Prize for Fiction Longlist

Adam and Rachel are getting married at last. Childhood sweethearts whose lives and families have been intertwined for years; theirs is set to be the wedding of the year. But then Rachel's cousin Ellie makes an unexpected return to the family fold.

WINNER OF THE COSTA FIRST NOVEL AWARD 2012LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2013WINNER OF THE BETTY TRASK AWARD 2013WINNER OF THE SAMI ROHR PRIZE FOR JEWISH LITERATURE 2013What if everything you'd ever wanted was no longer enough?Adam and Rachel are getting married at last. Childhood sweethearts whose lives and families have been intertwined for years; theirs is set to be the wedding of the year.But then Rachel's cousin Ellie makes an unexpected return to the family fold. Beautiful, reckless and troubled, Ellie represents everything that Adam has tried all his life to avoid - and everything that is missing from his world. As the long-awaited wedding approaches, Adam is torn between duty and temptation, security and freedom, and must make a choice that will break either one heart, or many.'Wonderful...witty...an astonishingly accomplished debut which will draw comparisons between Segal and Zadie Smith and Monica Ali' Stylist