Synopsis
Before the Swallow Dares is a story of two former school friends, Ted Bryant and Jim Fletcher, who meet again by accident after a gap of almost fifty years and decide to renew their friendship. It is only later that Ted realises that his friend is married to Dilys, a girl with whom he had fallen in love when they were both only eighteen and still at school – a vivid flashback shows us, how they first met, how matters developed, and, more importantly, how they lost touch.Once they meet again, Ted and Dilys recognise that they still have a great deal of interests in common, and still feel a lot of affection for each other, but they both love their current spouses and there is no question of that situation changing. Nor, however, is there any question of their losing touch again, for the two couples get on very well together too.But there are complications and difficulties to be faced, not least those posed by the maverick behaviour of Ted’s French ex-wife Arlette, but also by the fact that they are no longer in the first flush of youth and they have to cope with the problems which confront all of us when faced with advancing age.There is much humour and light-heartedness in the story, but much pathos too; but among the novel’s many qualities are that it presents characters of advanced age as people who still enjoy life and generally have a positive attitude. The fact that the author himself was a sprightly 79-year-old when he finished writing it puts him in an ideal position to show us what it’s really like…
About the Author
Tony Whelpton has been writing for a long time - in fact he has been doing many things for a long time! He has always lived in England, but has a strong emotional connection to France, and has pursued a number of different careers: for a long time he lectured on French language and literature in a university; for even longer he was one of the UK's most experienced and most influential examiners in both spoken and written French; between 1979 and 2000 he was a best-selling author of French textbooks for schools and colleges; he ran his own publishing company for 16 years, as well as editing newsletters of all kinds, singing for 30 years in a choir with near-professional standards, and doing a lot of broadcasting too.
Eventually, at a time when most people retire gracefully, he embarked on a new career which he now realises he should have embraced much earlier in life: writing fiction. He published his first novel at the age of 79, the second appeared a year later, and the third a year after that. As if that was not enough, he has just started work on his fourth.
Tony loves literature and the theatre, sport (he played squash until he was 63, then tennis until he was 73 - but two hip replacements and a new knee have put paid to that!), classical music, cooking, and the pleasures of family life: his wife, two cats, three daughters, five grand-children and two great-grandchildren keep him pretty busy - but fortunately not too busy to write!
Two things above all keep him going: his long-held belief that life is there for living, and the thought expressed by the great French cellist Paul Tortelier, that "everybody should die young - but as late in life as possible"!
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
