Steppes of Paris

''I prefer autumn. In autumn, I am at my best. It will be one of my lasting regrets, when you are gone, that we won''t have known each other in autumn...'' Edward had hoped for Latin America, but the newsdesk sent him to Paris. In Paris there were no machine-gun-toting revolutionaries with faces like icons. Instead there was Irina, exotically Russian, desirably statuesque, and ten years older than Edward. In an icy Paris winter, Edward and Irina are drawn together. The Steppes of Paris is an elegant and bittersweet story of unpredictable love in the City of Light - from the highly acclaimed author of Angel Cake and Playing Fields in Winter. ''I have never read a novel that describes so well the plight of the ex-pat in Paris ... the fraught progress of the affair is described with sharply wry observation'' Sunday Express ''A breath of spring, although with two acclaimed novels already to her credit Helen Harris''s talents are well past the budding stage ... wry, beautifully exact and bubbling with life'' Christopher Wordsworth, The Guardian ''The couple''s story is colourful, often funny and absorbing'' Eastern Daily Express ''An attractive, well written portrait of a young man and elderly Russian family ... well worth reading'' The Bookseller ''Excellent ... an intriguing tale, ultimately leaving the reader with the slow, cringing sense of horror as the book reaches its climax'' Jane Yelland, The Huddersfield Daily Examiner