Love out of season

Ray Connolly

"Romance - What is it? A sudden flow of endorphins to the brain? A trick by nature to persuade us to perpetuate our genes? Not noticing one another's adolescent pimples? Or sex through rose tinted condoms?" These are the sort of questions puzzling Amy Miller, a thirtyish writer of romantic fiction, when she discovers she is being doorstepped by the tabloid Press over her secret affair with a famously married lover. As he panics, she quickly goes into hiding. Choosing a remote hotel on the North Devon coast, she meets Tim, a music teacher and composer, who, recuperating after being injured at school, is also struggling to finish a piece of music his absent girl friend has inspired.