WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY HILARY MANTEL

'The perfection of its tone and prose is matched by an anguished wit' AMANDA CRAIG, GUARDIAN

'Wonderfully sinister, so enchantingly written and so sad. Everyone should read it' JILLY COOPER

'A subtle and beautiful book . . . Very few authors combine her acute psychological insight with her grace and style' HILARY MANTEL, SUNDAY TIMES

Imogen, the beautiful wife of barrister Evelyn Gresham, is facing the greatest challenge of her married life. Their neighbour Blanche Silcox, competent, tweedy, middle-aged and ungainly - the very opposite of Imogen - seems to be vying for Evelyn's attention. And to Imogen's increasing disbelief, she may be succeeding - for in affairs of the heart the race is not necessarily won by the swift or the fair.

"As smooth and seductive as a bowl of cream" - Sunday Times

"The perfection of its tone and prose is matched by an anguished wit" - Guardian

"Deliciously subtle . . . A lost world of tweeds and twin-sets . . . a classic novel of the fifties" - Daily Mail

"My best book of almost all time is THE TORTOISE AND THE HARE by Elizabeth Jenkins ... wonderfully sinister, so enchantingly written and so sad. Everyone should read it" - Jilly Cooper

"As smooth and seductive as a bowl of cream" - Hilary Mantel

"One of my favourite classics. Elegant and ironic, its continuing charm lies in its quirky and enigmatic love story which becomes more beguiling with each re-reading" - Carmen Callil

"Deliciously subtle...A lost world of tweeds and twin-sets...a classic novel of the fifties" - DAILY MAIL