The Good Guy: A deeply compelling novel about love and marriage set in 1960s suburban America - Hardcover

Susan Beale

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1473630339 ISBN 13: 9781473630338

Publisher: John Murray, 2016

Synopsis

SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA FIRST NOVEL AWARD 2016 A deeply compelling novel set in 1960s suburban America for fans of The Engagements and Tigers in Red Weather. Ted, a car-tyre salesman in 1960s suburban New England, is a dreamer who craves admiration. His wife, Abigail, longs for a life of the mind. Single-girl Penny just wants to be loved. When a chance encounter brings Ted and Penny together, he becomes enamoured and begins inventing a whole new life with her at its centre. But when this fantasy collides with reality, the fallout threatens everything, and everyone, he holds dear. The Good Guy is a deeply compelling debut about love, marriage and what happens when good intentions and self-deception are taken to extremes.

About this title

About the Author

Susan Beale was brought up on Cape Cod and now lives in the UK. She is a recent graduate of the Bath Spa MA in Creative Writing. The Good Guy is her first novel. It was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award 2016.

Review

A sparkling debut, with a lifelike depiction of a time and place, and piercing insights into the fabled, and often tarnished, American dream * Lady * With echoes of Richard Yate's Revolutionary Road this is a tale of an outwardly idyllic marriage, that in private is unravelling horribly * Optima * The Good Guy is no honeyed exercise in nostalgia: it's an exploration of the deception and conformity at the heart of the American dream * Guardian Online * The Good Guy is a very strong debut and a novel that kept me gripped to the very end. Beale is exceptional at creating believable characters that evoke genuine sympathy and scorn in equal measure * Book and Brew * What makes Beale's writing so poignant is her ability to paint her characters with such acute attention to detail * Dundee University Review of the Arts * Extremely well-written, intelligent and perceptive, this also happens to be a novel that slips down like ice-cream on a hot day. I absolutely loved it * Shiny New Books * Beale has crafted an engaging and harrowing portrait of womanhood and domestic life, astutely exploring the many ways in which distance and proximity can co-exist * Times Literary Supplement * Fresh and lively * Daily Mail * There's definitely a Mad Men vibe to The Good Guy * Red, Best Books to Read this June * A delicious, slightly gossipy summer read with a Mad Men feel to it. I'd especially recommend this to readers who enjoyed The Longest Night by Andria Williams and Tigers in Red Weather by Liza Klaussmann * Bookbag * Inspired by the author's own experience, The Good Guy is a story of marriage, self-deception and the pressure to conform in Sixties suburban New England * i * A joy * Samantha Harvey, author of The Wilderness *

About this edition

• Publisher: John Murray
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1473630339
• ISBN 13: 9781473630338
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 311