The ambiguous relationship between Ivan Turgenev and the ingénue starring in the revival of one of his early plays is revealed through the fragments of sources left to a researcher. It is a love predicated on renunciation, in which the appeal of a perpetual 'if-only' is explored.

Part of the Storycuts series, this short story was previously published in the collectionThe Lemon Table.

Julian Barnesis the author of twelve novels, includingThe Sense of an Ending, which won the 2011 Man Booker Prize for Fiction. He has also written three books of short stories, four collections of essays and two books of non-fiction,Nothing to be Frightened Ofand theSunday Timesnumber one bestsellerLevels of Life. In 2017 he was awarded the Légion d'honneur.