The Halt During the Chase

Brilliantly funny and brutal, this is the story of one woman’s escape from the clutches of polite society, by the incredible mid-century writer who destroyed her own books. ‘No matter her insistence that she just dashed them off to make ‘a lot of red-hot money’ – Tonks's novels are thrillingly strange things. She had the knack’ London Review of Books Sophie’s mother knows exactly how to needle her. Sophie’s lover Philip knows how to stab her in the heart. She may be clever, charming and smart but is Sophie destined to be an eternal bit-part? After a particularly callous throwaway remark from Philip, Sophie knows she must break away – from him, from her mother, from the snobbery of her Hampstead Heath upbringing. Being good and agreeable has brought nothing but loneliness; setting out alone might finally bring Sophie satisfaction. Back in print after many decades, this novel is a piece of dynamite, written by an extraordinary and little-known writer, the inimitable Rosemary Tonks. 'A bubbly, empathetic and ultimately lovely novel of a belated coming-of-age' New York Times 'Nobody writes about angsty women like Tonks' The Millions