The Innocents

The Innocents (2012) by Francesca Segal. Adam and Rachel have been an exclusive couple since they were sixteen years old, and now, at last, they are engaged to be married. Everything is going smoothly until Rachel's scandalous cousin, Ellie, comes to London from New York. There, she has been a "kept woman," but Adam can't help himself -- he falls deeply, lustfully in love with her. As he plots how he will tell Rachel and her family that he can't marry her, and later that he must leave her, he doesn't realize that Rachel and her family know about him and Ellie, and that they have ways of gently, powerfully making him stay. Although I couldn't share Adam's passion for Ellie, I could identify with his feelings of being trapped and being in love with someone else. This is a well written and highly involving book which makes for very entertaining reading. Grade: B+