Description

This contemporary twist on Brief Encounter is a tender meditation on what might have been. 

'Maybe we love people because they won't let us know them.'

A summer's evening in Manhattan. Nothing - not cold drinks, not showers not a stroll through the chilly aisles of an all-night drugstore - can undo the heat's hold on the city.

Julian is half watching the evening news, his husband filling the dishwasher. That's when it arrives. An email with the subject line: 'From Paul Axel'.

An email about a dead man from Chloe - a woman Julian has never met. Paul has left a message he'd like her to relay. Emails are exchanged.

Morning coffee at the Bryant Park Grill is agreed. Chloe, fulfilling Paul's final request, wonders how she will tell Julian of a life - and a love - he has no idea existed. A life, encased in a flash drive, containing multitudes.

Hardback

Publication: 12 Feb 2026, Faber & Faber
ISBN: 9780571399925, E
xtent: 112 pages

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Stowaways by Andre Aciman

    This contemporary twist on Brief Encounter is a tender meditation on what might have been.  'Maybe we love people because... Read more

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        Description

        This contemporary twist on Brief Encounter is a tender meditation on what might have been. 

        'Maybe we love people because they won't let us know them.'

        A summer's evening in Manhattan. Nothing - not cold drinks, not showers not a stroll through the chilly aisles of an all-night drugstore - can undo the heat's hold on the city.

        Julian is half watching the evening news, his husband filling the dishwasher. That's when it arrives. An email with the subject line: 'From Paul Axel'.

        An email about a dead man from Chloe - a woman Julian has never met. Paul has left a message he'd like her to relay. Emails are exchanged.

        Morning coffee at the Bryant Park Grill is agreed. Chloe, fulfilling Paul's final request, wonders how she will tell Julian of a life - and a love - he has no idea existed. A life, encased in a flash drive, containing multitudes.

        Hardback

        Publication: 12 Feb 2026, Faber & Faber
        ISBN: 9780571399925, E
        xtent: 112 pages

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