The Lemon Grove

Set on the rugged, mountainous west coast of Mallorca, this taut, sultry, brilliantly paced novel is a meditation on female desire, the vicissitudes of marriage, the allure of youth, and the politics of raising other peoples' children.
The story takes place over one week in the heat of Deia, a coastal village on an island off the southeast coast of Spain. Jenn and Greg go for a break to enjoy languorous, hot afternoons by the pool. But the equilibrium is upset by the arrival of Greg's daughter (Jenn's step-daughter), Emma, and her boyfriend, Nathan. Jenn is in her early 40s, loves her husband and her daughter and she is content, to an extent. But when this beautiful, reckless young man comes into her life, she is driven by a sexual compulsion that she's seldom felt since adolescence. The holiday progresses and her world is thrown into tumult as the lines blur between desire and obsession--it is not just the idea of sexual fulfillment that Jenn finds attractive...