A Heart Bent Out of Shape

A snow-filled paradise is the scene for A Heart Bent Out of Shape from Emylia Hall, author of the Richard and Judy book club pick The Book of Summers. Readers of Patrick Gale and Esther Freud will adore this moving and evocative story of a first love, a terrible tragedy and a year that will never be forgotten.

For Hadley Dunn, life so far has been uneventful – no great loves, no searing losses. But that’s before she decides to spend a year studying in the glittering Swiss city of Lausanne, a place that feels alive with promise. Here Hadley meets Kristina, a beautiful but elusive Danish girl, and the two quickly form the strongest of bonds. Yet one November night, as the first snows of winter arrive, tragedy strikes.

Hadley, left reeling and guilt-stricken, beings to lean on the only other person to whom she feels close, her American Literature professor Joel Wilson. But as the pair try to uncover the truth of what happened that night, their tentative friendship heads into forbidden territory. And before long a line is irrevocably crossed, everything changes, and two already complicated lives take an even more dangerous course…