‘The Only Story’ (2018)
by Julian Barnes

“Would you love the more, and suffer the more; or love the less, and suffer the less? That is, I think, finally, the only real question.”

First love has lifelong consequences, but Paul doesn’t know anything about that at 19. He’s proud of the fact that his relationship with a 48-year-old woman  and mother of two daughters in their early 20s flies in the face of social convention. As he grows older, the demands placed on Paul by love become far greater than he could possibly have foreseen….

Sandra, Georg and Andrew discuss the plot outline, socio-cultural background and Zeitgeist, attitudes to marriage and sad sex.