All the Hopeful Lovers
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Review
'You'll love it ... so intimate, so socially spot on. Nicholson writes beautifully about love, tear-jerkingly well about parents and children' Wendy Holden, Daily Mail.
'It's the simply truthfulness of his portrayal of men and women's emotional and sexual lives that will surely earn Nicholson another batch of happy readers' Daily Telegraph.
'William Nicholson writes so well about love ... It's a comfortable scenario, yet heaving with emotion and yearning ... as we all do' Daily Express.
'It's the simply truthfulness of his portrayal of men and women's emotional and sexual lives that will surely earn Nicholson another batch of happy readers' Daily Telegraph.
'William Nicholson writes so well about love ... It's a comfortable scenario, yet heaving with emotion and yearning ... as we all do' Daily Express.
Product Description
Belinda wistfully reflects how much better at sex she is now than when she was in her twenties. She's thought about taking a lover, but ultimately could never do that to her husband Tom. So imagine her despair when she discovers he's having an affair... And what about Tom, and his lover Meg? It's not easy for them either. Alongside this knot of middle-aged lovers is a tangle of younger ones, as Belinda's flirty daughter Chloe tries to set up Jack with shy Alice, without realizing that Jack actually has a crush on her. Nicholson casts an unflinching eye on men's attitude to sex, on women, love and family life. This is our own familiar world rendered pacy, funny, emotionally on the button and hugely entertaining.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This book was a very welcome return for me to the village in East Sussex, and some of the characters, from The Secret Intensity of Everyday Life. Although not strictly a sequel, it is a loose follow on. The books can be read independently, but I would recommend reading them in order.
This book, as with Secret Intensity, looks at the lives of the people who live in the village over just a few days, this time in December 2008. William Nicholson is a master at taking the everyday events in the characters' lives and making them interesting to the reader. I read this book very quickly and found myself reluctant to put it down.
I understand he is writing a third book in the series and I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on it.
Highly recommended.
This book, as with Secret Intensity, looks at the lives of the people who live in the village over just a few days, this time in December 2008. William Nicholson is a master at taking the everyday events in the characters' lives and making them interesting to the reader. I read this book very quickly and found myself reluctant to put it down.
I understand he is writing a third book in the series and I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on it.
Highly recommended.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I discovered a copy of Nicholson's 'The Secret Intensity of Everyday Life' on our bookshelf. I've no idea where it came from, someone probably gave it to us and it was filed under 'may read sometime...' At a loose end, I picked it up one day and couldn't put it down. Nicholson has the ability to capture thoughts and emotions that I know so very well - there are moments when he puts on paper a sentiment that I recognise as being my own. I bought 'All the Hopeful Lovers' (the sequel) immediately. It covers the lives of largely the same characters, eight years onwards and it continues in the same vein. It is simply crafted, almost like a screenplay (he wrote Gladiator, so it's not surprising) and yet, simple though it is in construction, it is touching and thought provoking. He joins my list of favourite modern novelists alongside Helen Dunmore, William Trevor and Penelope Lively.
My only gripe? The hardback covers would lead you to think of these as frilly, vacuous, romantic novels. They're not and the books deserve a better representation.
My only gripe? The hardback covers would lead you to think of these as frilly, vacuous, romantic novels. They're not and the books deserve a better representation.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
"All the Hopeful Lovers"
Well, there is Belinda & Tom, in the middle years of their marriage, not particularly happy but tottering along. Plastic surgeon Tom (cosmetic) is bonking Meg, in Admin. Belinda finds out & decides to indulge an itch of her own involving Kenny, a man she knew years ago and who has a certain reputation. She knows where he lives! She confides all this with her friend Laura, similar age, has some regrets but married to Henry in a quiet sort of way. Laura has a sister Diana in London married to Roddy who has suddenly gone all silent on her. It turns out he is "looking for God" which puts the fear of God up Diana. Diana introduces Belinda to the installation art work of Joe Nolan, whose work is being promoted by Chtistina, who used to work for Henry & fancies getting off with Joe. She tries to engineer a contretemps between modern Joe and stuckist Anthony Armitage, Joe's former tutor. Meanwhile Belinda's daughter Chloe back from uni. & the object of Laura's son Jack's desire is trying to set up a romance between him & Alison, the daughter of estranged Guy & Liz Dickinson, the partner of Alan Strachan a frustrated script writer. All very middle class and southern counties, but now enter Matt Early, plumber & violin restorer who lives with his mother but determines to make adulterous Meg his own.....
So far, so soap? Actually, no; much more perceptive. A better insight into the minds & personalities of the characters & their motives is very rare. Needless to say, nothing quite works out the desired way & there is resignation, reconciliation, disappointment and downright frustration to be seen. Nicholson does three things very well:
* he enters minds like a ferret down a rabbit hole;
* he does conversation; you believe it;
* he knows, loves & makes you love the South Downs.
The novel thrives on tensions:
* what one has, what one might have had, what one might have;
* creativity versus commercially necessary compromise;
* male versus female aspirations; strangely similar.
Why haven't I come across Nicholson before? The UK's best kept secret, but no longer! Here I go for "The Secret.... etc" & "The Trial...etc"
Well, there is Belinda & Tom, in the middle years of their marriage, not particularly happy but tottering along. Plastic surgeon Tom (cosmetic) is bonking Meg, in Admin. Belinda finds out & decides to indulge an itch of her own involving Kenny, a man she knew years ago and who has a certain reputation. She knows where he lives! She confides all this with her friend Laura, similar age, has some regrets but married to Henry in a quiet sort of way. Laura has a sister Diana in London married to Roddy who has suddenly gone all silent on her. It turns out he is "looking for God" which puts the fear of God up Diana. Diana introduces Belinda to the installation art work of Joe Nolan, whose work is being promoted by Chtistina, who used to work for Henry & fancies getting off with Joe. She tries to engineer a contretemps between modern Joe and stuckist Anthony Armitage, Joe's former tutor. Meanwhile Belinda's daughter Chloe back from uni. & the object of Laura's son Jack's desire is trying to set up a romance between him & Alison, the daughter of estranged Guy & Liz Dickinson, the partner of Alan Strachan a frustrated script writer. All very middle class and southern counties, but now enter Matt Early, plumber & violin restorer who lives with his mother but determines to make adulterous Meg his own.....
So far, so soap? Actually, no; much more perceptive. A better insight into the minds & personalities of the characters & their motives is very rare. Needless to say, nothing quite works out the desired way & there is resignation, reconciliation, disappointment and downright frustration to be seen. Nicholson does three things very well:
* he enters minds like a ferret down a rabbit hole;
* he does conversation; you believe it;
* he knows, loves & makes you love the South Downs.
The novel thrives on tensions:
* what one has, what one might have had, what one might have;
* creativity versus commercially necessary compromise;
* male versus female aspirations; strangely similar.
Why haven't I come across Nicholson before? The UK's best kept secret, but no longer! Here I go for "The Secret.... etc" & "The Trial...etc"
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Enjoyable read
I read the prequel to this book and thoroughly enjoyed it. There are moments in 'All the Hopeful Lovers' where I found myself totally absorbed in the author's personal reflections... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Savannah D
very readable
An engaging, enjoyable, easy read with good storylines. Sorry to say goodbye to the characters at the end, although somehow the characters were not fleshed out and, as I couldn't... Read more
Published 2 months ago by C. Mccullough
Good sequel
This is a lovely sequel to the previous book by the same author, The Secret Intensity of Everyday Life, and I recommend that readers start with the first one and then read this... Read more
Published 7 months ago by M. Forrest
Slow but rewarding
I nearly gave up on this book to be honest. For the first third of the book, you are just constantly meeting new characters so that for the first twelve chapters you dont go back... Read more
Published 10 months ago by E. Murphy
Excellent look at the complexities of love and modern life...
British writer William Nicholson shines a light on love - young love and old love - in his new novel, "All the Hopeful Lovers" (called "I Could Love You" in the US edition. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Jill Meyer
Hard to put down
This was just one of those perfect indulgent reads. The stuff of ordinary middle class English life rendered with honesty and sympathy. Read more
Published 16 months ago by MollfromOz
Didn't quite hit the spot
I really wanted to like this book but somehow it didn't work for me. A number of the many, many characters just didn't convince me, such as Alice and Jack their terribly grown-up... Read more
Published 19 months ago by Claretta
an excellent sequel
'All The Hopeful Lovers' is the second book which I have read of this author. The chapters on the supposed reasons for male infidelity are an insight into the male psyche! Read more
Published 19 months ago by fishwife
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