All the Hopeful Lovers
William Nicholson
All the Hopeful Lovers
Belinda, just fifty, wistfully reflects how much better she is at sex now than when she was young and gorgeous, and then discovers to her fury that her husband Tom is having an affair. All the Hopeful Lovers tracks the emotional rollercoaster she lives through over the seven days following her discovery. At the same time we learn what's going on inside the mind of Tom and of his lover Meg. Weaving through this web of middle-aged lovers is a tangle of teenage ones, as Belinda's flirty daughter Chloe tries to set up Jack with shy Alice, without realising that Jack is full of secret longings for her. These personal dramas are unfolding in December in the tense run-up to Christmas, as William Nicholson casts an unflinching eye on men's attitude to sex, on women and marriage and family life.
3.8 out of 5 based on 5 reviews
|
Omniscore:
|
| Classification |
Fiction |
| Genre |
General Fiction |
| Format |
Paperback |
| Pages |
320 |
| RRP |
£17.99 |
| Date of Publication |
September 2010 |
| ISBN |
978-1849163880 |
| Publisher |
Quercus |
| |
Belinda, just fifty, wistfully reflects how much better she is at sex now than when she was young and gorgeous, and then discovers to her fury that her husband Tom is having an affair. All the Hopeful Lovers tracks the emotional rollercoaster she lives through over the seven days following her discovery. At the same time we learn what's going on inside the mind of Tom and of his lover Meg. Weaving through this web of middle-aged lovers is a tangle of teenage ones, as Belinda's flirty daughter Chloe tries to set up Jack with shy Alice, without realising that Jack is full of secret longings for her. These personal dramas are unfolding in December in the tense run-up to Christmas, as William Nicholson casts an unflinching eye on men's attitude to sex, on women and marriage and family life.
Reviews
The Daily Mail
Wendy Holden
"Clever William Nicholson. I wasn’t too wild about his last book, but I absolutely adored All The Hopeful Lovers, gobbling it up in one (quite long!) sitting. The slightly limp title sells short the full-blooded brilliance within; a series of interlinked love affairs over a period of seven days. Oh, you’ll love it. It’s so intimate, so socially spot-on... La Ronde for the Noughties middle classes."
04/10/2010
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The Daily Telegraph
Jonathan Gibbs
"...it’s the simple truthfulness of his portrayal of men and women’s emotional and sexual lives that will surely earn Nicholson another batch of happy readers. Easy as the novel is to read, though, the vanilla smoothness of the writing means it’s unlikely to leave much of an impression once it’s finished."
24/09/2010
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The Times
Kate Saunders
"In territory normally covered by women writers it is fascinating to see the adultery-go-round from a male point of view. It’s not so very different; and Nicholson draws both genders with equal insight and sympathy."
18/09/2010
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The Daily Express
Jennifer Selway
"William Nicholson writes so well about love... It’s Aga saga territory, the set dressed with glasses of wine, tiresome teenagers and the particular hassles of middle-class life. It’s a comfortable scenario, yet heaving with emotion and yearning, as they do. As we all do."
01/10/2010
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The Guardian
Laura Barnett
"Nicholson's screenplays (for Shadowlands and Gladiator) have been nominated for Oscars, and he brings an intensely visual sensibility to his writing… [His] experience of writing for stage and screen also tells in his keen ear for dialogue. He falters, however, in the manipulation of his overlong cast-list."
16/10/2010
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