"Enduring Love" is a novel by award winning writer Ian McEwan, first published in 1997

On an ordinary spring day, while he is enjoying a picnic with his girlfriend, Clarissa, the calm, organised, ordinary life of science writer Joe Rose is turned upside down due to the repercussions of a tragic accident.

Joe and Clarissa see a hot-air balloon out of control and being tossed around by strong winds. To his horror, Joe realises that a young boy is trapped in the basket of the balloon, and he and several other people rush to help, but In the attempt to save the boy, a man is killed. .

A passerby named Jed Parry joins Joe in helping to bring the balloon down safely. Joe is so shocked by what has happened he doesn't take much notice of Jed Parry...but Jed Parry notices Joe...

Their chance meeting spawns a dangerous obsession in Parry, an obsession powerful enough to test the limits of Joe's rationalism, threaten his relationship with his girlfriend and drive him to the brink of murder and madness.