Almost Life

Breathtaking, smart and sexy, Almost Life is a story of love and longing, of the lives we almost live and the choices we don't make.


One chance encounter can define a lifetime

Erica and Laure meet on the steps of the Sacré-Cœur in Paris, 1978. Erica is a student, relishing her first summer abroad before beginning university at home in England. Laure is studying for her Ph.D. at the Sorbonne, drinking and smoking far too much, and sleeping with a married woman.

The moment the two women meet the spark is undeniable. But their encounter turns into far more than a summer of love. It is the beginning of a relationship that will define their lives and every decision they have yet to make. Spanning cities, decades and heartbreaks, fate brings them within touching distance again and again.

But will they be brave enough to seize the life they truly want?

Review

Erica and Laure have made me think about MY life, about love and friendship and how short life is . . . immersive, sensual, beautiful and powerful -- Marian Keyes, author of My Favourite Mistake

A heart-rending tale of missed chances. Millwood Hargrave is a wonderful writer and what a pleasure it is to be in the company of such a deft, enchanting storyteller -- Douglas Stuart, Booker Prize-winning author of Shuggie Bain

Hot, smart and completely captivating - this is a truly luscious love story. I'll never forget it -- Daisy Buchanan, author of Insatiable

A beautifully told story about love, longing, and the lives we almost live -- Louise O'Neill, author of Idol

A rippling elegy to the possibilities and impossibilities of love. Tender, sensual and thrumming with life, Kiran Millwood Hargrave swirls heady prose into both a lament and a celebration of the choices we make, the passions that consume us, and the almost lives we almost live -- Lucy Steeds, author of The Artist

The biggest weepy since One Day . . . she knows exactly how to destroy us ― Stylist Magazine

Almost Life is captivating and immersive, a soaring ode to both love’s possibilities and its pain. Richly rendered and deeply felt, Laure and Erica will stay with me for a long time -- Sophie Mackintosh, Booker-longlisted author of The Water Cure

Love, loss, joy, cowardice, bravery, sex, friendship, love, more love, always love, Paris, London, Norfolk, and four decades of longing: a masterpiece from a writer at the height of her powers -- Ella Risbridger, author of The Year of Miracles

About the Author

Kiran Millwood Hargrave is a multi-award-winning, internationally bestselling novelist. She is the author of instant Sunday Times bestseller The Mercies, which was a Richard and Judy Book Club Pick, won a Betty Trask Award, and was named an NYT Best Book of the Year, and The Dance Tree, which was shortlisted for the HWA Gold Crown Award, and picked for the BBC Two Between the Covers Book Club. Her bestselling works for children are published in over thirty languages. Kiran lives in Oxford with her family, and a constant rotation of foster kittens.