IT FELT LIKE LIVING IN THE MOMENT COULD LAST FOREVER...Luc loves Cecillie: Luc is a painter, inspired by the crumbling city quarter that has always been his home; Cecillie has escaped from overbearing English parents. Together they are a golden couple, chaotic and free; their love a talisman against all that the world dares throw at them. Jacques loves Frederique: Frederique is an agent, scouring the streets for a talent that can capture the city she loves; Jacques owns a bar, a favourite of the French port town. Theirs is an older bond. But when Frederique finds in Luc an artist with the city in his blood, can her relationship survive the sudden passion that ignites? And Blythe loves Bryony, loves her with a ferocity that takes him still by surprise. So how can Bryony think of leaving him here, where they found each other. How can the cosy domesticity of England compare to the sun and the sea and the vigour of this place? It echoes through them all, the beat of the city. It brought them together; by the end of the summer, it might well have wrenched them apart. A remarkable debut, Laughing as they Chased Us is a sexy, self-assured and beautifully-observed first novel from one of our freshest young writers.