A touching exploration of passion untested by domesticity.

Before Isabelle, I knew nothing of sex. Before Isabelle, I knew nothing of freedom. Before Isabelle, I knew nothing of life.

Paris in the early seventies. Sam, an American student, meets a woman in a bookshop. Isabelle is enigmatic, beautiful, older, and, unlike Sam, experienced in love's many contradictions. Sam is instantly smitten but wary of the wedding ring on her finger.

What begins as a regular arrangement in Isabelle's tiny Parisian flat transforms into a true affair of the heart, one that lasts for decades to come.

Isabelle in the Afternoon is a novel that questions what we seek, what we find, what we settle for, and shows how love, when not lived day in, day out, can become the passion of a lifetime.

Praise for Douglas Kennedy:

"The absolute master of love stories with heart-stopping twists."

"Kennedy is skilled at zigzag plotting, blending domestic twists with turns created by global affairs.".