Sylvia

'Every page reveals the mark of an extraordinarily original and gifted talent.' - William Styron Leonard, a young writer drifting through the city, meets Sylvia by chance at a friend's shabby Greenwich Village apartment. He's instantly besotted with her striking beauty and quiet disdain, and the question of what to do with his life is resolved. In this remarkable semi-autobiographical novel, we are drawn into the world of this beatnik couple living in Manhattan in the early 1960s, and their demi-monde of jazz, poetry, and late nights and early mornings. But when Sylvia's depression emerges and her disturbances take hold, their fights become increasingly violent and their relationship drifts towards self-destruction. Written with extraordinary clarity and precision, this is a compelling portrait of the mad intensity, exquisite pain, and destructive power of young love.