Dusty Answer (Virago Modern Classics)

'Mamma was fast asleep at home, her spirit lapped in unconsciousness. Her dreams would not divine that her daughter had stolen out to meet a lover. And next door also they slept unawares, while one of them broke from the circle and came alone to clasp a stranger . . . '

A sensitive only child, Judith Earle has always been a little in love with the glamorous Fyfe boys who come to stay in the house next door. With the War over and Judith on the brink of going to Cambridge, the cousins arrive again - and she is caught once more in their spell. Falling hopelessly in love with Roddy, Judith's passionate entanglements - with each of the cousins, and with the charismatic Jennifer at Cambridge - will leave her forever changed. Dusty Answer traces with delicate nostalgia childhood friendships and the pangs of thwarted young love.

Lehmann's first novel was published to sensational acclaim in 1927 and became a landmark book of the interwar period, capturing the voice of a new generation.