The Golden Hour

(, UK airports ed)

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Description

Maggie, 30, and Andrew, 32, have been together for eighteen months. It's a good relationship, and Andrew has recently made the decision to take up the offer of a new job in Lewes. This has implications. As the first chapter begins, Andrew says to Maggie, 'I've been thinking...'. She knows at once that he's about to suggest they move in together.

In that instant she realises, for the first time, that fond though she is of Andrew she doesn't want to spend the rest of her life with him. On the other hand, if she parts with him now, what if she never meets someone as easy to be with What if she stays single Is an okay guy better than none

This is the dilemma that Maggie lives out over the next seven days. She breaks up with Andrew, suffers doubts, confides in her best girlfriend. The girlfriend, Josie, mediates with a grief-stricken Andrew, and ends up in bed with him. This unintended betrayal causes Maggie, to her humiliation, to see Andrew quite differently, and to end up wanting him back again.

Reviews

'An intelligent look at the tensions simmering behind the facade of suburban life' She magazine. 'Entertaining as a book to fill an idle afternoon ... An agreeable ramble' Sunday Telegraph. 'William Nicholson is trying to do something unique; he's trying to reinvent commercial fiction ... The Golden Hour returns to stamping-ground - angsty middle-class families in Lewes, East Sussex - but with even more ease and confidence than the previous two books ... You can feel Nicholson's pedigree in his writing; he's the Oscar-nominated screenwriter of Shadowlands and Gladiator. He has a cinematic feel for scenes: his novels are packed with dialogue ... He is an accomplished, enjoyable writer whose snappy scenes zip satisfyingly by ... It's a noble endeavour and a pleasure to read ... this is an emotionally engaging, clever read' Observer. 'I enjoyed it very much ... Nicholson sends up the world of bone-headed TV commissioning editors and flaky film people so brilliantly I wished he would dump all the other characters, good as they are, and do a proper Tom Sharpe take on these alone. Really wonderful comedy is so rare in novels these days' Daily Mail.

Author Bio

William Nicholson grew up in Sussex and was educated at Downside School and Christ's College, Cambridge. His plays for television include Shadowlands and Life Story, both of which won the BAFTA Best Television Drama award of their year. His first play, an adaptation of Shadowlands for stage, was Evening Standard's Best Play of 1990. He was co-writer on the film Gladiator. He is married with three children and lives in Sussex. Visit his website at www.williamnicholson.co.uk.