Sally is beautiful, blonde and pampered. She's married to Richard. But she loves Jerry. Jerry loves Sally in return, but he's also still in love with his wife Ruth. Who's been sleeping with Richard ...

As a hot, feverish summer of snatched weekends, secret phone calls and illicit lovtmaking on the beach comes to a head, it turns out everyone knows more than they've been letting on. And that no one knows quite when to stop.
'Updike has never written better of the woe that is marriage' Guardian

'No one has a better understanding of the capriciousness of the human heart' Daily Telegraph