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FROM THE AWARDWINNING AUTHOR OF THE ROTTERS CLUB AND MIDDLE ENGLAND

In the heady summer of 1977 a nave young woman called Calista sets out from Athens to venture into the wider world On a Greek island that has been turned into a film set she finds herself working for the famed Hollywood director Billy Wilder about whom she knows almost nothing But the time she spends in this glamorous unfamiliar new life will change her for good

While Calista is thrilled with her new adventure Wilder himself is living with the realization that his star may be on the wane Rebuffed by Hollywood he has financed his new film with German money and when Calista follows him to Munich for the shooting of further scenes she finds herself joining him on a journey of memory into the dark heart of his family history

In a novel that is at once a tender comingofage story and an intimate portrait of one of cinemas most intriguing figures Jonathan Coe turns his gaze on the nature of time and fame of family and the treacherous lure of nostalgia When the world is catapulting towards change do you hold on for dear life or decide its time to let go