When lonely sixteen-year-old university student Blanche meets the dazzling Christa, she is swept off her feet. Christa, who talks freely of her impoverished background in the Eastern Belgian town of Malmedy, claims to work in a bar with her boyfriend, a David Bowie lookalike called Detlev. When Blanche's mother, who finds her own daughter rather colorless, bookish and dull, is also dazzled by Christa though, she soon invites her to stay at the family house. Suddenly Christa can do no wrong and, as Blanche's parents scour their address-books for long-lost friends to invite to dinner to meet the newcomer, their friendship sours and Blanche's already negligible self-confidence goes into a steep decline.
- ISBN10 0571224849
- ISBN13 9780571224845
- Publish Date 5 August 2010 (first published 1 April 2005)
- Publish Status Transferred
- Out of Print 16 March 2010
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Faber & Faber
- Format Paperback
- Language English