As London comes alive with the 1960s youth revolution, one woman makes a choice that defies all expectations.
'So real and humane and utterly transporting' Meg Mason
It's 1967 and London is alive with the new youth revolution. In the suburbs, meanwhile, Phyllis Fischer inhabits a world of conventional stability. Married with two children, her life is both comfortable and predictable.
But when Nicky - a twenty-something friend of the family - visits one hot summer evening and kisses Phyllis in the dark of the garden, something in her catches fire. Newly awake to the world, Phyllis makes a choice that defies all expectations . . .
'Wonderful' Marian Keyes
'My favourite author' Kate Atkinson
'Achingly moving and real' Guardian
'Beguiling' Hilary Mantel
'Compelling' Elizabeth Day
'Will bring you to tears' Daily Mail
'So real and humane and utterly transporting' Meg Mason
It's 1967 and London is alive with the new youth revolution. In the suburbs, meanwhile, Phyllis Fischer inhabits a world of conventional stability. Married with two children, her life is both comfortable and predictable.
But when Nicky - a twenty-something friend of the family - visits one hot summer evening and kisses Phyllis in the dark of the garden, something in her catches fire. Newly awake to the world, Phyllis makes a choice that defies all expectations . . .
'Wonderful' Marian Keyes
'My favourite author' Kate Atkinson
'Achingly moving and real' Guardian
'Beguiling' Hilary Mantel
'Compelling' Elizabeth Day
'Will bring you to tears' Daily Mail
So real and humane and utterly transporting; fresh and yet, with the feeling of a beloved classic. Meg Mason, author of SORROW AND BLISS
"A deceptively expansive novel, filled with idiosyncratic characters and a distinctive flavor of the times. . . . A domestic novel of manners, erotic abandon, and cultural change, Free Love is as eclectic and alive as the time it captures." - NPR's Fresh Air
"Tessa Hadley has few rivals in portraying the dynamics of families and the intricate weave of emotional affiliations among members. She is a genius at capturing fugitive thoughts and memories, the propulsive energy of desire, and the provisional reasoning that constitute inner being. . . . Free Love is a penetrating, extraordinarily subtle novel about an unsubtle era." - Wall Street Journal
"A tragicomic exploration of how one woman's erotic awakening revolutionizes her sense of who she is, what she must do and what that will cost." - Ron Charles, Washington Post
"Exquisite and sensuous prose. . . The stories of break and repair in this novel are wonderfully unpredictable." - Minneapolis Star Tribune
"Hadley's arresting novel offers a backward glance that helps show us a way forward" - Los Angeles Times
"[A] brilliantly observed novel." - People, Pick of the Week
"Free Love is a fresh, moving evocation of the dawning of the Age of Aquarius." - NPR
"Free Love is beautifully structured and brilliantly paced. It displays Tessa Hadley's extraordinary skill at making both surface life and deep interiors come fully alive. Phyllis Fischer's quest for love and escape is created with drama and excitement, but also with slow care and real delicacy and sympathy." - Colm Tóibín
"Free Love is a perfect example of the Tessa Hadley problem: her books are so easy on the eye, such a joy to read, it's possible to forget how artful, profound and subtle they are-and what a great writer she is. " - Geoff Dyer
"Every book Tessa Hadley writes makes her readers look forward keenly to the next. Free Love is a beguiling novel, deceptively easy to read; beneath the surface swim disturbing and age-old questions about freedom and fate." - Hilary Mantel
"In keen, lush prose, Hadley conveys the many ways her characters delude themselves amid fraught relationships between parents and children as well as between lovers. The result is sumptuous and surprising." - Publishers Weekly, starred review
"Think The Graduate told from Mrs. Robinson's point of view.... Hadley's indelible portrait of a woman defying conventions in pursuit of personal fulfillment flawlessly captures a signature time with timeless sensitivity and passion." - Booklist, starred review
"Tessa Hadley has few rivals in portraying the dynamics of families and the intricate weave of emotional affiliations among members. She is a genius at capturing fugitive thoughts and memories, the propulsive energy of desire, and the provisional reasoning that constitute inner being. . . . Free Love is a penetrating, extraordinarily subtle novel about an unsubtle era." - Wall Street Journal
"A tragicomic exploration of how one woman's erotic awakening revolutionizes her sense of who she is, what she must do and what that will cost." - Ron Charles, Washington Post
"Exquisite and sensuous prose. . . The stories of break and repair in this novel are wonderfully unpredictable." - Minneapolis Star Tribune
"Hadley's arresting novel offers a backward glance that helps show us a way forward" - Los Angeles Times
"[A] brilliantly observed novel." - People, Pick of the Week
"Free Love is a fresh, moving evocation of the dawning of the Age of Aquarius." - NPR
"Free Love is beautifully structured and brilliantly paced. It displays Tessa Hadley's extraordinary skill at making both surface life and deep interiors come fully alive. Phyllis Fischer's quest for love and escape is created with drama and excitement, but also with slow care and real delicacy and sympathy." - Colm Tóibín
"Free Love is a perfect example of the Tessa Hadley problem: her books are so easy on the eye, such a joy to read, it's possible to forget how artful, profound and subtle they are-and what a great writer she is. " - Geoff Dyer
"Every book Tessa Hadley writes makes her readers look forward keenly to the next. Free Love is a beguiling novel, deceptively easy to read; beneath the surface swim disturbing and age-old questions about freedom and fate." - Hilary Mantel
"In keen, lush prose, Hadley conveys the many ways her characters delude themselves amid fraught relationships between parents and children as well as between lovers. The result is sumptuous and surprising." - Publishers Weekly, starred review
"Think The Graduate told from Mrs. Robinson's point of view.... Hadley's indelible portrait of a woman defying conventions in pursuit of personal fulfillment flawlessly captures a signature time with timeless sensitivity and passion." - Booklist, starred review