A young expat in Paris is caught between her lover and his wife in this autobiographical novel by the author of Wide Sargasso Sea.

Set in the bohemian café society of 1920s Paris, Quartet tells the story of Marya Zelli, a young woman who finds herself alone and adrift when her art dealer husband is arrested. On his insistence, she goes to live with a friendly English couple. But when Marya becomes entangled in the intimate lives of her hosts, she has no way out. And the desperate situation turns explosive when her husband is released from prison.

Jean Rhys’s debut novel, Quartet, won international acclaim when it was originally published in 1928. It is loosely based on her extramarital affair with Ford Madox Ford, which took place while her then-husband Jean Lenglet was in prison.

Rhys Jean