A novel about human relationships, focusing, unusually for Brookner, on two male characters. Hartmann and Fibich met at school and forty years later they can no more think of living apart than of divorcing their wives. This book deals with their gradual coming to terms with the emotional gaps in their lives. Anita Brookner is also the author of "A Start in Life", "Providence", "Look At Me", "Hotel du Lac" which won the 1984 Booker Prize, "Family and Friends" and "A Misalliance". She is an international authority on 18th century art and teaches at the Courtauld Institute of Art.