'If you're coming to Lurie for the first time, you must begin with the Pulitzer Prize-winning Foreign Affairs' GuardianVinnie Miner is an American professor of children's literature on her way to London for six months of research.

Alan has changed because hes injured his back. Pain has altered his appearance and made him glum, demanding and resentful. His wife Jane has to do everything for him - fetching, carrying, shopping, cooking, even dressing and undressing him. Sometimes she longs for escape.

Delia is a writer and researcher specialising in fairy tales - she is, in her own estimation, a Great Artist. Her husband, Henry, manages her every need making certain Delia gets everything she desires including spectacular doses of adulation.

Can Delia coax Alan out of his grumpiness? Can Henry stop Jane feeling guilty?...

Just married and newly arrived in Los Angeles are Paul and Katherine Cattleman. Paul responds immediately to the sunny, sprawling cosmopolitan city but to Katherine the main impression is of dirt and smog. Paul explores his surroundings and discovers Ceci, a girl who could be the incarnation of the citys uninhibited ways, while Katherine meets Iz a psychiatrist who recognises her unhappiness and sets out to help her. Under the bright west coast sun, the city begins to affect the couple in separate, subtle but significant ways, shining new light on their marriage with moving, funny and...

'A brilliant and seemingly effortless accomplishment...steady uninterrupted delight' Sunday TelegraphFaculty wife Emily Stockwell Turner is beautiful, rich, and principled.