A middle-aged woman's search for freedom, this is classic Lessing, heregiven a stunning new image. Her four children have flown, her husband isotherwise occupied, and after twenty years of being a good wife andmother, Kate Brown is free for a summer of adventure. She plunges into anaffair with a younger man, travelling abroad with him, and on her returnto England, meets an extraordinary young woman whose charm and freedom ofspirit encourages Kate in her own liberation. Kate's new life has broughther a strange unhappiness, but as the summer months unfold, a darker,disquieting journey begins, devastating in its consequences.