Milena is a Red Princess living in a Soviet Satellite state in the 1980s. She enjoys limitless luxury and limited freedom; the end of the Cold War seems unimaginable. When she meets Jason, a confident but politically naive British poet, they fall into bed together. Before long, Milena is planning her escape. She follows Jason to London, where she’s shocked to find herself living in bohemian poverty. The rented apartment is dingy, the food disgusting, and Jason’s family withholding, but at least there are no hidden cameras recording her every move. As she adjusts to her new life, however, Milena discovers the dark side of Jason’s idea of freedom. With sharp wit and tender precision, Vesna Goldsworthy delivers a comedy of manners nevertheless fraught with tension (Alexander Larman, Observer).

Riveting… . A book so full of steel and compassion that it stands glitteringly apart. -Rachel Cusk, author of Second Place