Commencing Our Descent

Sadie is in a tailspin: will anyone break her fall?

Having had more than her share of misfortune, Sadie Summerfield seems to have finally ended up lucky. She has the perfect homelife. For the first time in a very long time, she has a future.

So when another man, a cautious, subdued man, so very different from her own warm-hearted husband, drifts into Sadie’s life, she must ask herself the question: Is she ready to risk everything for the sake of love? And besides, shouldn’t affairs begin with a shiver of danger, with the thrill of the chase, rather than this?

In Commencing Our Descent Suzannah Dunn proves she has unrivalled access to the most hidden, most intimate workings of our lives and longings, our marriages and affairs, our secrets and lies. Wry, sharp and witty, this is her most astute and affecting novel yet.

Suzannah here combines the sharpness and tautness of her short stories with the warmth and detail of her novels, and achieves perfect balance.

Reviews

‘Dunn excels at exploring just how thin the line is between innocent conversation and erotic yearning… This is an enchanting story of how love happens without itself, a tender reminder that there is nothing more scandalous than an innocent friendship.’
Daily Express

‘Dunn is a remarkable writer, a lyricist of ordinary life and ordinary people transfigured by extreme emotions.’
Daily Telegraph

About the author

Suzannah Dunn is the author of nine previous books of fiction: ‘Darker Days Than Usual’, ‘Blood Sugar’, ‘Past Caring’, ‘Quite Contrary’, ‘Venus Flaring’, ‘Tenterhooks’, ‘Commencing Our Descent’, ‘The Queen of Subtleties’ and her most recent success ‘The Sixth Wife’. She lives in Shropshire.