'Unflinchingly honest... this diary is exceptional' Elizabeth Buchan

'Tuesday 23 October, 1934
Another glorious sunny day. Lunch in Kens Gdns. E had not slept well "as I longed and longed for you". It made me happy that he wanted me. I suppose that is mean. He said, "I could pick you out in the dark from fifty women . . ." '

The diary of Doreen Bates is a candid, spellbinding portrait of a gutsy young woman working in London in the years before and during the Second World War, as well as an extraordinary account of her long affair with an older, married colleague - one that brazenly challenged the strict conventions of the day.

'Startlingly frank and readable' David Kynaston

'Absolutely engrossing' Virginia Nicholson

'Astute, passionate, remarkably intimate, showing us the day-to-day picture of a long relationship' Guardian