September in the Rain

‘A beautiful novel: profoundly upsetting, as its subject matter requires, but one which also offers a kind of redemption, thanks to the tone of rueful, quizzical honesty in which Peter Robinson narrates. The patient beauties of his poetry are carried over seamlessly into this, his first work of fiction.’—Jonathan Coe, author of What A Carve Up!, The Rotters Club, and Number 11

‘September in the Rain is a novel of extraordinary beauty and courage. It takes on a difficult and complex subject and explores it with sensitivity, wit and humanity. Peter Robinson is a writer of great panache and wisdom. I defy anyone not to be moved by his story’—Paula Byrne, author of Perdita: A Life of Mary Robinson

‘To call this story a trauma narrative is to do it a disservice. It is a dark and tender tale of violation, but also more than that. As much as anything it’s a triumph of style, its sentences being assayed with a poet’s feeling for the weight of each word’—Giles Foden, author of The Last King of Scotland

Two young people travelling through Italy are caught in the rain and hitch a lift with chilling consequences. After this nothing will ever be the same again.

Richard and Mary have been together throughout University, and the trip to Italy had been planned long ago. But before they set out Richard had a brief affair with Alice, and his confusion and Mary’s suspicions have started to change everything; they make a series of small choices which ultimately lead to disaster.

In delicately powerful prose Peter Robinson carefully, painfully, and tenderly depicts the relationships before and after the brief and traumatic event at the heart of the novel.

September in the Rain is a book about the responsibilities of love; about accidents and decisions; about unforeseen and dreadful consequences.