The Golden Hour

Description

She loves him. She's happy. But could she be happier? Maggie and Andrew are lovers who live apart - Maggie in the country, Andrew in town. When Andrew is offered a job close to Maggie, moving in with her is the obvious next step. Or is it? Is this the man she wants to spend the rest of her life with? Maggie panics. She ends their relationship, devastating Andrew. But when he turns the tables on her, she begins to see him differently. Meanwhile, Maggie's Sussex neighbours are living through their own intense dilemmas. The stories of Maggie and other characters entwine in a continuous dance over seven golden days of high summer - a human kaleidoscope that captures how passionate yet mundane, painful yet comic our everyday lives can be.

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.

'Nicholson is a subtle and addictive writer who deserves to be a household name ... [with] his remarkable eye for detail and for the weaknesses of human nature' * Observer * 'Nicholson's eye for human behaviour and talent for storytelling make this novel gripping and thoroughly enjoyable' * Bookbag * 'Rich in dialogue and humour' * Express * 'Nicholson's novel reflects back his readers' hopes and disappointments in soothing therapeutic prose' * Independent * 'Capturing humour in the small, perfectly skewered moments of everyday life, this is a story of small, largely middle-class lives enclave, made golden by the light that Nicholson shines on them' * Sunday Times * 'He writes with great emotional empathy ... richly detailed and acutely observed' * The Times * 'How does he make you care so much? As you read, you feel a deep compassion ... you turn the pages, addicted' * Spectator * 'You'll love it ... so intimate, so socially spot on ... Nicholson writes beautifully about love, tear-jerkingly well about parents and children' * Daily Mail * 'Nicholson's great strength lies in his ability to make the reader understand and care about his characters ... He is particularly concerned with morality and love, subjects that have inspired all great novelists. It is a joy to find a contemporary writer passionately engaged with both' * Elizabeth Jane Howard *