Sofka Zinovieff was born in London. She studied social anthropology at Cambridge, then lived in Greece and Moscow. She is the acclaimed author of three works of non-fiction, Eurydice Street: A Place in Athens, Red Princess: A Revolutionary Life and The Mad Boy, Lord Berners, My Grandmother and Me, a New York Times Editors' Choice 2015, and one previous novel, The House on Paradise Street. Her writing has appeared in publications including the Daily Telegraph, the Financial Times, the Times Literary Supplement, the Spectator and the Independent. She divides her time between Athens and England.

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'Among the hottest books of this blazing summer' (Daily Telegraph): a bold, lushly written novel that will compel and disquiet in equal measure

A BOOK OF THE YEAR 2018 - CHOSEN BY THE OBSERVER, NEW STATESMAN AND SPECTATOR

It is the 1970s and Ralph, an up-and-coming composer, is visiting Edmund Greenslay at his riverside home in Putney to discuss a collaboration. Through the house's colourful rooms and unruly garden flits nine-year-old Daphne - dark, teasing, slippery as mercury, more sprite than boy or girl. From the moment their worlds collide, Ralph is consumed by an obsession to make Daphne his.

But Ralph is twenty-five and Daphne is only a child, and even in the bohemian abandon of 1970s London their fast-burgeoning relationship must be kept a secret. It is not until years later that Daphne is forced to confront

the truth of her own childhood - and an act of violence that has lain hidden for decades.

Putney is a bold, thought-provoking novel about the moral lines we tread, the stories we tell ourselves and the memories that play themselves out again and again, like snatches of song.

Certain books worm their way into your soul, grabbing you from the opening paragraph and holding you in their grip until the final page has been turned. Sofka Zinovieff's Putney is just such a book, compelling the reader from its atmospheric opening until its bruising, bittersweet end

Smart and gripping

Among the hottest books of this blazing summer

Accomplished, timely and unusually well-wrought

Zinovieff handles this difficult subject with control, insight, wisdom and sympathy . For anyone who came of age in that era, this can be an uncomfortable read, as well as an utterly fascinating one. I think it's the best novel of 2018, by far

Sofka Zinovieff writes about this moral minefield with the necessary sensitivity, inhabiting her characters so convincingly that the conclusion is all the more chilling

Delves deep into the discussions surrounding consent and abuse of power. Zinovieff has written a contemporary Lolita in which the rules of engagement have changed, women are speaking out about the ways they have been misused and the Humbert Humberts face prosecution and disgrace . Zinovieff is skilled at evoking the shifting moral and social terrain ... Richly drawn and convincingly realised

This superb novel from the highly regarded Zinovieff dissects every moral ambiguity ... Zinovieff twists the reader's sympathy to and fro, until the final revelation. Over and above the central subject, this is a finely nuanced study of the way different people make subjective sense of the past, and a reminder that the novel (like the analyst's couch) is a great space for thinking about the unthinkable

Zinovieff's dark and disturbing novel delicately probes the lines between abuse and consent in this atmospheric, intelligent and ambiguous story

Unputdownable: a modern classic

A disturbing, well-structured, nuanced story that provides no simple answers - an important addition to an urgent, current conversation

Involving, beautifully written, and subtle . There are terribly difficult questions here, dealt with sensitively and intelligently

Lolita for the age of #MeToo ... It delves deep into the discussions surrounding consent and abuse of power . Zinovieff is skilled at evoking the shifting moral and social terrain while never letting us forget that none of that can be an excuse . the two main players are richly drawn, the strange, sad bond that exists between them convincingly realised

I read this greedily over the course of a day ... On obsession, abuse and atonement via three memory threads with complex and provocative consequences. A powerful - and timely - examination of desire and permission, innocence versus experience. "All children liked secrets, didn't they..?"

Zinovieff writes with poise and sophistication

The ultimate taboo brought to life in a way that's thrillingly disturbing and evocative. I couldn't leave it

This is a really important book. I loved it. Thought provoking, emotionally complex, and tackling the topic of the day - the blurred area between consent and abuse

This book is truly memorable and thought-provoking; throughout, Zinovieff sustains wonderfully perplexing and complex ambiguities. What is love, and what is exploitation? What is truth and what is self-deception? What is righteousness and what is hypocrisy? Can contradictions be simultaneously true? It's a great story and a riveting read. I'll remember the characters forever

I read it at one go, unable to put it down, until 2am ... It's remarkable, a brilliant novel, jolting and shocking and right

Superb ... It is really something. Zinovieff treats the tricky subject with admirable dispassion

I read this novel with huge enjoyment . It is a terrific novel and I look forward to reading it many more times

The reader is as deftly manipulated as the child. Pacy and illuminating