Open Season

Hura and Cillian have spent thirteen happy years together. They love their long-standing apartment in London, their friends, their loyal, ageing dog Casimir - and each other. But when Hura's career is thrown into crisis and their plans for a family stall, they decide the time is right to seek out new adventures and begin to talk seriously about something they've only ever indulged as an abstract fantasy: opening up their relationship to strangers. James and Roses are still getting to know each other, but it's been electric from day one. They both have very good reasons for keeping romantic partners at arm's length and effective strategies for doing so - Roses is a lifelong non-monogamist and James works all hours as a junior doctor. Things are different this time, though, and they're falling harder than they ever expected. Thrown by the intensity of her feelings and struggling to reinstate some healthy distance, Roses suggests it might be fun for them to try sleeping with other people. When the two couples collide and an exploratory four-way date sends sparks flying, life shifts on its axis for each of them - and starts to spin increasingly out of control. As James and Roses fight to keep secrets from their past at bay and as Cillian and Hura test the limits of their trust and their marriage, the two couples are forced to decide which lines to draw, which to cross - and which choices might just change everything. An outstanding debut that deftly peels apart the complexities of sex, love, honesty and betrayal, this is a novel that pulses with desire - for other people, for freedom, for the chance to lose yourself and start again. Blending the driving intensity and psychosexual drama of The Affair with the big questions about the choices we make of EXPECTATION and the fierce insight and tenderness of EXCITING TIMES, Cassie is a major new talent.