'It’s a rare pleasure to read this novel' - Sarah Moss, author of Ripeness

An exquisite slow-burn forbidden love story, laced with passion and faith

Rome, 1953. David is young, handsome, charismatic, and sworn to celibacy. He is freshly ordained, and about to return to England to begin life as a priest. Devotion to God is all he’s ever known, and all he thinks he ever will.

In London, Margaret is entangled in an impossible love affair. Increasingly drawn to the Church, she sets out to join the new revolutions of sex and faith.

Decades later, she is being cared for by her grandson, who has just discovered the strange truth of his family history.

Stephanie Sy-Quia’s A Private Man is a stunning story of devotion and sacrifice, and of the consequences of our actions that ripple throughout generations.