This book is an existential study of romantic loving. It draws on five existential philosophers to offer insights into what is wrong with our everyday ideas about romantic loving, why reality often falls short of the ideal, sources of frustrations and disappointments, and possibilities for creating authentically meaningful relationships.

The Fiction of Anita Brookner is the first full-length study of this controversial contemporary writer. After discussing critical assessments of Brookner, and attempts to relate her to various classics and contemporaries, Dr Skinner skilfully combines insights from recent narrative theory with close analyses of nine novels. Moving from the first novels, and their close relations to French literary models, he goes on to trace the increased sophistication of Hotel du Lac and the technical innovations of its successors.