Editions

False Pretences

False Pretences

Teasing out the extraordinary within the everyday, FALSE PRETENCES is a contemporary novel in mosiac. Through the separate yet interlinked stories, it traces the lives of two women as they deal with the complexities of love, private terrors, violence and - most precarious of all - hope. There is mystery, wry humour, sometimes tragedy beneath the jaunty surfaces glimpsed through the years, until, by the end, we have encompassed their lives.

Reviews

  • It is a tribute to Lee Langley's controlled style and wit that by the end you long to start the book again.

    Daily Telegraph

  • A stunning collection of short stories, each of which stands alone, yet is satisfyingly linked . . . Langley is a talented chronicler of the human condition.

    Daily Mail

  • A series of delicately fashioned cameos . . . tantalising and satisfying.

    Sunday Times

More from this Author

About the Author

Lee Langley

Lee Langley is the author of nine highly praised novels including Changes of Address (shortlisted for the Hawthornden Prize) and Persistent Rumours (winner of a Commonwealth Writers' prize). Her most recent book was A Conversation on the Quai Voltaire, a volume of short stories, poetry and journalism. Her adaptation 'The Tenth Man', based on a Graham Greene story, was made into an award-winning movie starring Anthony Hopkins and Derek Jacobi. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and lives in London.

Lee Langley

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