Over the course of three decades, Poppy Lynch searches for love, belonging and a sense of self through a series of intense relationships that shape the course of her life. But as old wounds resurface and familiar patterns repeat, she is forced to confront the gap between the stories she has told herself and the truth of who she has become.

Moving from post-punk London to New York and beyond, Swiss Kissing is a coming-of-age novel about desire, abuse of power, obsession and the enduring impact of an intense first love.

Like the stories of Lorrie Moore, or the writings of Lucia Berlin, the deep truths Yasmine Lever’s book contains about addiction, about psychic entanglement, about longing, and love, and paralysis, and fear, are delivered with such deftness and lightness of touch that they catch you completely off-guard. I adore this novel – I’m envious of anyone getting to read it for the first time.