An Education

It is the year 1961. Jenny is 16 and dreams of Paris – of a glorious life amongst the Gauloises-smokers on the banks of the Seine. For the time being, however, this pretty, intelligent girl is obliged to continue her studies at school... and whenever she’s not she’s busy singing along to Juliette Gréco’s chansons in her bedroom in Twickenham.
Jenny can’t wait to grow up. She is a nonetheless diligent pupil with excellent grades (except in Latin) that should help her to gain a place at Oxford.
But then, one rainy day – of which there are many – a curious admirer appears in Jenny’s life. David is already in his thirties. A witty, urbane citydweller, David easily outrivals all the schoolboys around Jenny. Moreover, to Jenny’s great amazement, he even succeeds in charming her conservative parents Jack and Marjorie, dispersing any objections they may have had about her having an older Jewish man for a boyfriend.
David introduces Jenny to a bright new world of classical concerts and latenight dining in the company of David’s friend and business associate, Danny, and his attractive if somewhat insipid girlfriend, Helen. Together they undertake excursions in David’s sports car and even spend a weekend together in Oxford. On her seventeenth birthday, David invites Jenny on a trip to Paris – promising Jenny’s parents that his ‘Aunt Helen’ will be accompanying them as a chaperone. But what Jenny’s parents don’t know is that Jenny has long since decided when and where she will lose her virginity ...