'Electrifying' Gabriela Garcia 'Sexy, kinetic, dazzling' Chang-rae Lee 'Filled with sex, violence and glamour' Adam Johnson
Corsica, 1993. As a sun-drenched Mediterranean summer heads into full swing, beautiful and brash seventeen-year-old Séverine Guimard is counting down the days until graduation, dreaming of stardom while smoking cigarettes and seducing boys in her class to pass the time. The pampered French-American daughter of a politician, Séverine knows she's destined for bigger things.
That is, until three masked men emerge from an idling car, tear her from her bike, duct tape her mouth and wrists, and take her somewhere hidden from prying eyes. While her parents try to negotiate for her release, Séverine finds herself beginning to sympathise with the political motivations of her captors, and becoming attracted to the group's charismatic leader, Bruno.
What follows is a summer of passion and terror, careening toward an inevitable, explosive conclusion, as Séverine steps into the biggest role of her life...
