The cat's eye

the long version

For Bridget Reilly the invitation to spend the summer in Cornwall offers welcome relief from the pain of her marriage breaking up. Her hostess, Nell Wilbraham, is a strikingly beautiful woman, and when Bridget meets the rest of the family she is equally impressed. Another guest is the mysterious Paulinus, a good-looking and charming drifter who entrances them all with his almost pagan vitality. As the weeks pass, these people seem to take on a more vivid, magical quality which arouses in Bridget entirely new emotions and longings.