When George Sand and Frédéric Chopin arrive at a monastery in Mallorca, the resident ghost, Blanca, falls head-over-heels in love with George – this striking woman in a man’s clothing. But the rest of the village is suspicious, and as winter sets in, their stay looks likely to end in disaster. For fans of How to Be Both by Ali Smith.

Longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize

'Wildly seductive' – Sarah Waters
'Exquisite' – New York Times
'Deeply enjoyable' – Daily Telegraph

Briefly, A Delicious Life by Nell Stevens is a story about breaking convention, and about love – secret, forbidden, unrequited.

Blanca has been dead for a few centuries when she falls in love – instantly and devotedly – with celebrated novelist George Sand. George is unlike anyone Blanca has encountered in hundreds of years of haunting: a woman dressed in men’s clothes, a ferocious writer, a passionate lover of men and women alike and an ambivalent mother.

It is 1838, and George has come to the island of Mallorca with her ailing lover, Frédéric Chopin. As the weather and the locals turn against this strange couple, can the love of a teenage ghost keep them from disaster?

'Dazzling' – Melissa Broder, author of The Pisces and Milk Fed

‘A luscious, multi-sensory bewitchment of a book’ – Kiran Millwood Hargrave, author of The Mercies

‘A shining work of art’ – Elizabeth Macneal, author of The Doll Factory

'Electrifyingly beautiful, exhilaratingly clever . . . sensual, original, intelligent and brimming with love' – Imogen Hermes Gowar, author of The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock

‘Hugely accomplished’ – The Guardian

‘A playful, otherworldly debut’ – Stylist