Madonna in a Fur Coat (Penguin Modern Classics)

I would stare and stare, until I could stare no longer, and had to cast my eyes down to the floor.

They might feature in the thousand and one fantasies I concocted as I lay under olive trees on hot summer nights, far from material concerns, but they all had one thing in common: they were beyond my reach.

For a man of no experience like me, it was nothing short of terrifying to think of coming face to face with a woman such as her.