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The Secret Intensity of Everyday Life [Kindle Edition]

William Nicholson (Author)
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (62 customer reviews)
Print List Price: £7.99
Kindle Price: £5.22 includes VAT* & free wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet
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Review

'Utterly captures the sense of quiet desperation of ordinary lives, the huge emotional vulnerability of having children and the ways in which life turns on a sixpence.' Kate Mosse.

'Nicholson writes about all his diverse characters with great kindness and he's one of those rare novelists who can write about sex' Marina Lewycka.

'The writing is unobtrusively brilliant - I can't remember enjoying and admiring a new novel more' Elizabeth Jane Howard.

'An absolute winner … amazingly perceptive, very moving, wholly absorbing. What a huge treat is waiting for those who have not read it!' Juliet Nicolson, author of The Perfect Summer.

'a beautiful novel' New Statesman.

'Everyone is hungry to read something broader and more humane than McEwan and Barnes because we want to understand the society we live in ... The Secret Intensity of Everyday Life is what's been keeping me up at nights' Jenni Russell, Sunday Times.

'Modern tales written well can be brilliant and Nicholson's story set in Sussex is one such novel ... It's very well done' Daily Express.

Review

'Utterly captures the sense of quiet desperation of ordinary lives, the huge emotional vulnerability of having children and the ways in which life turns on a sixpence.' Kate Mosse. 'Nicholson writes about all his diverse characters with great kindness and he's one of those rare novelists who can write about sex' Marina Lewycka. 'The writing is unobtrusively brilliant - I can't remember enjoying and admiring a new novel more' Elizabeth Jane Howard. 'An absolute winner ... amazingly perceptive, very moving, wholly absorbing. What a huge treat is waiting for those who have not read it!' Juliet Nicolson, author of The Perfect Summer. 'a beautiful novel' New Statesman. 'Everyone is hungry to read something broader and more humane than McEwan and Barnes because we want to understand the society we live in ... The Secret Intensity of Everyday Life is what's been keeping me up at nights' Jenni Russell, Sunday Times. 'Modern tales written well can be brilliant and Nicholson's story set in Sussex is one such novel ... It's very well done' Daily Express.
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Product details

  • Format: Kindle Edition
  • File Size: 2056 KB
  • Print Length: 353 pages
  • Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1569476470
  • Publisher: Quercus (27 May 2010)
  • Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B00480O9PK
  • Text-to-Speech: Enabled
  • X-Ray: Not Enabled
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (62 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #21,375 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
50 of 51 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Subtle and beautiful - an excellent read 26 Sep 2010
By joc66 TOP 100 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)
Set in a Sussex village over 10 days in 2000, this story has got far more to it than the blurb suggests. Although initially hard to get into and seemingly a bit disconnected, this cleverly plotted story with a wide range of characters becomes compelling as Nicholson skilfully weaves the various strands together. It's written in an episodic way, with each chapter dealing with a different strand of the story, then moving on to another strand, only to return to the first strand at a later point. In addition to Laura,(revisited by an old flame) and Henry who works in television, we also get to know a vicar who has lost his faith, a journalist still in the thrall of her ex-husband, an aspiring play-wright teacher, and others too, both old and young. An everyday story of country dwellers could so easily deteriorate into soap opera and it is entirely to Nicholson's credit that his novel rises gloriously above this and really conveys the yearning, the striving, the uncertainty, the disatisfaction and also the optimism with which we struggle through life. Nicholson gives the reader an insight into his characters motivation which the other characters can't see, and in doing so, shows us how little we really know about one another.
I thoroughly enjoyed this thought-provoking story and will certainly look out for more by Nicholson in the future. If you enjoy intelligent contemporary fiction, you really should give this a try.
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26 of 27 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Inner lives laid bare 8 Sep 2009
By Eileen Shaw TOP 1000 REVIEWER
Format:Hardcover
William Nicholson is a skilled writer. With this book he takes a variety of ordinary people and invokes what it is like to be in their skin. The stories are so well delivered and so intense in their feeling that this book is a remarkable reading experience.

Laura has received a letter from her first love, Nick, with whom she spent ten months as a young woman in her second year at university. But he broke their relationship off - he wasn't ready for the next step at that time, leaving Laura desolate. But Laura moved on eventually, though her experience left its scars. Now he wants to come back into her life. But she has changed. She has married Henry, a TV director and writer, and they have a son and daughter, Jack and Carrie.

In many ways, Nick and Laura's story is the least interesting, and sometimes dissolves into romantic cliché, but there are lots of more rewarding characters living in the same village - Liz, who has a young daughter, Alice, and is still in sexual thrall to her ex-husband; Alan Strachan, Alice and Jack's young teacher who writes plays but can't get them staged; the village rector who finds that he no longer believes in God but whose humility and serene patience is perhaps more honest and useful than any religious certainty; The inner lives of these and other people are explored even down to young Jack, who is under the spell of an older, charismatic friend, Toby, and Alice, who is being bullied. The result is a captivating novel that allows you to feel some of these anxieties from the inside. The reader is swept up in the motivations that emerge and even the least sympathetic of them is rendered with compassion and - yes - intensity. This is one of those novels that you can, for a time, live in. I found myself reluctant to reach the last page.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Gets right into people's minds 11 Aug 2010
By Snitzy-bitz
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)
I was a bit disappointed to begin with when I first started reading, but it soon warmed up and then I really started enjoying it. At first I thought the book was just about Laura, a married woman who hears from an old lover from her student days, but the story spins out to other characters, although there seemed to be so many, I found it hard to keep up with who's who.

The author seems to get right into people's heads as he describes their day to day thoughts and feelings. For instance, a lot of us could identify with Henry, who feels guilty after a dangerous overtaking manoeuvre and tries to escape by accelerating away from the driver he overtook, who was forced to brake hard. There are the children too - little Alice, who's being bullied at school, and Jack, who desperately wants to be accepted into the gang. Alan is their young English teacher, who lives alone and dreams of being a writer but is trying to deal with the constant rejection letters, while his middle-aged neighbour, who is slightly unbalanced (and married), convinces herself Alan and she have something special going on between them.

It's all fascinating stuff, and reminds me that we are mostly fairly similar under the skin - we all have our worries, hurt feelings and insecurities, and sometimes forget that others have them too because they seem to sail through life without a care in the world. Thought provoking and overall a great read. Having read this, I would now definitely read another book by this author.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Life Affirming
This is a wonderful, beautifully written book that describes so well the space between each and everyone of us and how, although we are alone in this world, love, relationships and... Read more
Published 22 days ago by Robert W Hatcher
5.0 out of 5 stars A book that reflects our times.
A well written novel which acknowledges our modern suburban life. A complex set of characters whose lives and problems are skilfully interwoven. A very good read.
Published 1 month ago by D. J. Green
3.0 out of 5 stars Not bad, but not Nicholson at his best
As a novel, I found this quite good. I have to admit though, that it wasn't what I was expecting from William Nicholson. Read more
Published 1 month ago by maeelizabeth
5.0 out of 5 stars Ordinary life made gripping
This novel makes ordinary lives gripping. Although sold as "old lover meets married woman 20 years after the affair" it has many strands, all interesting. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Ransen Owen
5.0 out of 5 stars Painfully perceptive
Because William Nicholson has limited the scope of this novel, with the action taking place over just a few days and with a small cast of characters, he has created the opportunity... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Frances Cooke
5.0 out of 5 stars Read all the other books in the series after this one
I cruise the library shelves for further installments in this series by William Nicholson. The books are a bit like the Archers but with some punch as they follow the lives of a... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Claire Smith
4.0 out of 5 stars Exactly as the title says!
An interesting peep into how very different people in a community think and react to seemingly humdrum life! Read more
Published 2 months ago by evonwise
5.0 out of 5 stars Great lines to read over and over
Really liked this book. It had a load of great lines that I'd like to read again and again. It had a bit of very descriptive sex but that is probably the fall out of the 50 Shades... Read more
Published 3 months ago by JC Surrey
2.0 out of 5 stars Slow
I started so I finished, but I could have easily given up and maybe should have done. Some bits better than others.
Published 4 months ago by Mrs Karen Douglas
5.0 out of 5 stars Superb, thought-provoking storytelling
This book is much better than the synopsis would have you believe. It's much more than just a story about revisiting old loves and being tempted to contemplate another way of life... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Jl Adcock
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Everyone’s got energy. But most people’s energy is all used up by their anxieties. &quote;
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He’s thinking of the unimaginable otherness of other people. We each live in our own world, and our worlds collide, but all we get is a little dented. A little bruised. These bruises our only chance of understanding those who are not ourselves. The precious ache of understanding. &quote;
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It’s a strange sensation, knowing she can have what she wants: one that teeters dangerously close to its opposite, which is discovering that you want nothing. &quote;
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