Ella de Vries, a stunning beauty with obsidian eyes who dances with the Royal Ballet, falls in love with Donny McLeod, a Dionysiac rebel and free spirit who 'believes in nothing'.It is the 1970s. They move into a household of political radicals and become casually drawn into extremism. Infiltration by Special Branch leads to a violent crime that sends Ella into self-imposed exile in Brazil. Donny goes wandering. Over thirty years later Ella returns.The economy is in freefall. An entirely different kind of terrorist is active. The unruly nature of love reunites her with Hector, a former housemate who is torn over whether to make common cause with Islamic extremists in attacking a bank. When Donny reappears Ella becomes the catalyst for a series of events the final outcome of which is as shocking as it is unexpected. Blending satire and lyricism, comedy and tragedy, Eating Air is Pauline Melville's most audacious work yet.Pauline Melville is the author of two short story collections and two novels. Her first novel, The Ventriloquist's Tale (1997) won the Whitbread First Novel Award and was shortlisted for the Orange Prize.Shape-Shifter won the Guardian Fiction Prize, the Commonwealth Writer's Prize and the PEN/Macmillan Silver Pen Award.She has worked as an actress, appearing in films such as Mona Lisa and British television programmes including the BBC Television comedy series The Young Ones. She currently lives in London.