Twenty years after leaving her, the great love of Esther’s life sends a telegram. Tomorrow, he tells her, he is coming back. Esther has not forgotten that her dazzling lover is a fantasist and a liar, nor that he caused her unimaginable hurt. But she also remembers how he made her feel, how he woke a part of her that has ever since been sleeping. A special meal is planned, a car arrives at the house, and – in a heightened visit for which Esther is not remotely prepared – their two lives converge for a second, dizzying time. ‘Like Embers, the novella recounts a dramatically charged meeting after a gap of decades, and it has a similarly intricate symbolism’ Guardian ‘In times of recession, they say, gold never loses its value. Neither do literary gems . . . There are some great writers I find it hard to talk about without gushing, and Márai is on that list’ Sunday Herald ‘Rediscovering Márai is like finding an Old Master painting in the attic’ Sunday Telegraph