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The Only Story

The Only Story

**THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER**

Would you rather love the more, and suffer the more; or love the less, and suffer the less? That is, I think, finally, the only real question.

First love has lifelong consequences, but Paul doesn’t know anything about that at nineteen. At nineteen, he’s proud of the fact his relationship flies in the face of social convention.

As he grows older, the demands placed on Paul by love become far greater than he could possibly have foreseen.

Tender and wise, The Only Story is a deeply moving novel by one of Britain's greatest mappers of the human heart.

Reviews

  • A novelist at the height of his powers ... Quietly devastating.

    Robert Douglas-Fairhurst, The Times

  • Exquisite.

    Kate Clanchy, Guardian

  • Emotionally acute, profoundly beautiful, as droll as it is deep... this has to be one of the smartest novels that 2018 has to offer.

    Hephzibah Anderson, Mail on Sunday

  • A gentle, bleak, and brilliant novel.

    Jon Day, Financial Times

  • Immensely powerful.

    Alex Clark, New Statesman

  • This intense, taut, sad and often beautiful tale may well be Barnes’ best novel for years.

    Lara Feigel, Spectator

  • A tender and heartbreaking novel.

    Alex Preston, Observer

  • As quiet and aching and intimate as a James Blake ballad.

    Rupert Goold

  • A sensitive look at what makes lovers tick.

    Robbie Millen, The Times

  • A vivid dramatization of the narcissism of obsessive love.

    Economist

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About the Author

Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes is the author of thirteen novels, including The Sense of an Ending, which won the 2011 Man Booker Prize for Fiction, and Sunday Times bestsellers The Noise of Time and The Only Story. He has also written three books of short stories, four collections of essays and three books of non-fiction, including the Sunday Times number one bestseller Levels of Life and The Man in the Red Coat, which was shortlisted for the 2019 Duff Cooper Prize. In 2017 he was awarded the Légion d'honneur.

Julian Barnes

Read more

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Recommendations

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No year is complete without a bit of reading reflection, and as we gaze at 2019's shelves, we're more than a bit pleased with the boldness and breadth of the last 12 months of VINTAGE books. From an insider's look at the realities of modern-day poverty to an acclaimed expose of the data bias towards men, and a long-awaited, Booker-winning dystopian smash hit, here are 10 of the biggest highlights.
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Extracts

A letter from Dodie Smith to Julian Barnes on the first publication of Metroland

An extract from the archive edition of Metroland
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Features

Julian Barnes and Suzanne Dean

Man Booker Prize-winner Julian Barnes discusses the cover design of his new novel, The Noise of Time, with Suzanne Dean. Joined by Alex Clark, they recall key moments in their twenty-year working relationship, as well as the iconic covers that have been created.

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