Never Anyone But You

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'A novel of tremendous beauty . . . A wonderful achievement' Sarah Waters

'A beautiful and extraordinary book' Philip Pullman

When Suzanne, a shy 17-year-old, meets the brilliant but troubled Lucie in rural Provence at the turn of the twentieth century, the two young women embark on a clandestine love affair. But they soon long for greater freedom.

The lovers move to Paris where they recreate themselves entirely, adopting the gender-neutral names Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore. Before long, they are mixing in the most glamorous social circles and producing art of great power and strangeness.

But the world is fast darkening around them. With war looming they leave Paris for Jersey, and it is here that they confront their destiny, dreaming up a campaign of propaganda against Hitler's occupying forces that places them in great danger and demands their love endure against ever greater odds.

From one of our most celebrated writers, NEVER ANYONE BUT YOU explores the gripping true story of two extraordinary women who smashed gender boundaries, redefining what it means to be a woman, and ultimately risked their lives to overcome oppression. Theirs is a story that has been hidden in the margins of history - until now...

Reviews

In prose so sharp it glitters, Rupert Thomson reveals in fiction what inevitably remains hidden in nonfiction - lived experience. Through the measured but incisive voice of Suzanne Malherbe, the reader enters the intimate world of two life-long lovers, artistic collaborators, and anti-Nazi rebels who left behind a haunting photographic legacy. After I finished this acute and tender book, I felt that two fascinating ghosts had become real. - Siri Hustvedt

Never Anyone But You is a delightful, surprising and highly accomplished novel that puts a hidden piece of history into its long overdue place in the spotlight. Rupert Thomson deftly weaves a story that spans several decades, the Paris surrealists, Nazi-occupied Jersey, heroic acts of resistance, and intense and enduring (and forbidden) love into one seamless whole. I was gripped, thrilled, entertained and deeply moved. - Monica Ali

In this novel about Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore, Rupert Thomson tells the thrilling story of how, fusing love and art, one of the great collaborative partnerships of the 20th century mounted an unthinkably brave, largely unsung campaign of political witness and resistance. The voice Thomson gives Marcel is a brilliant invention: flashes of poetry trouble the patina of its self-control, intimations of the wildness and terror of genius. - Garth Greenwell, author of What Belongs to You

Hands down, Rupert Thomson is one of my favourite writers of all time. I impatiently wait for his new novels and he never disappoints. The atmospheric Never Anyone But You is exquisitely crafted and pulls you deep into the love affair of two extraordinary women. Magnificent. As always. - Andrea Wulf

Author Bio

Rupert Thomson is the author of ten highly acclaimed novels, including The Insult, which was shortlisted for the Guardian Fiction Prize, and chosen by David Bowie as one of his 100 Must-Read Books of All Time, The Book of Revelation, which was made into a feature film by the Australian writer/director, Ana Kokkinos, and Death of a Murderer, which was shortlisted for the Costa Prize. In 2010, he published a memoir, This Party Got to Stop, which won the Writers' Guild Non-Fiction Book of the Year. Rupert Thomson has contributed to the Financial Times, the Guardian, the Independent, and Granta. He lives in London.