Synopses & Reviews
From a brilliant storyteller twice nominated for Academy Awards comes a thrilling novel about love, sex, and politics played out against the backdrop of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
During World War II, three young soldiers from the “Big Three” Allied countries sit down to tea with Princess Elizabeth. They resolve to make sure there are no more wars. But years later, these men will be advisors to Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Mountbatten—and come within a hair's breadth of launching a nuclear holocaust.
In Reckless, William Nicholson sets two very different love stories against the backdrop of a world spinning towards nuclear war. Pamela has grown up fast and caught the fever of the early 1960s. Barely a woman and eager to begin life, she comes to London and quickly gets in over her head, sexually and socially, with the notorious Cliveden set. She makes a spectacular debut at a party and soon finds herself being exploited by a wealthy man and, quite possibly, his mother. Meanwhile, Rupert Blundell, no longer an idealistic young soldier, now works for Mountbatten, is well into his forties, and has given up on love—until he meets Mary Brennan, an innocent young woman running away from a secret that could catapult her into fame. Rupert helps her begin a new life, finding her a room in the house where Pamela lives. When Pamela introduces Rupert to a Russian spy who promises to stop the missile crisis, Mary’s explosive secret is revealed.
The latest from a novelist whose writing critics have called “intelligently scrumptious,” Reckless is a sexy, Mad Men-era thrill ride you won’t soon forget.
Review
"Reckless moves from the panoramic to the intimate with the sweeping ease of a movie camera lens, putting the reader in the room with the likes of Khruschev and JFK one minute, then seamlessly drawing you into the dark, sexually-charged underbelly of the Cliveden parties the next. Nicholson's theme of innocence lost in 1960's Britain is intelligently juxtaposed against the backdrop of the Cuban missile crisis."
Review
"Lyric and rich, this beautiful novel presents two love affairs more than a century apart, expertly stitched together by the unseen hand of Emily Dickinson. Through a small, intimate lens the novel explores blockbuster themes of love, honesty and fidelity. It is a rare and lovely book."
Review
"Nicholson's parallel love stories hold classic appeal, while the historical aspects of the tale provide interest for those seeking 'the real story' of one of America's most revered poets."
Review
"Weaving voices of the past and present, Nicholson creates an engaging, many-faceted novel that deftly explores the timeless torments of love and loneliness."
Review
and#8220;A cinema-ready exploration of love and lust in New England past and present.and#8221;
Review
"Nicholson not only gives us an entertaining and often touching novel but also does a larger service. He reminds us of how well Dickinson knew the human heart, including its loneliness, and that humans, of any century, yearn for deep connection, often against the odds."
Review
and#8220;Accomplished novelist and screenwriter Nicholson spins a tale of two college-two love trianglesand#8230;The poetry and history go down easy, the lovers fall hard, and the tragic, treacherous terrain of romantic entanglement is well explored in what more than one reader saw as ripe material for a screenplay.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;A compelling reflection on sex and marriage in the 19th century, [Amherst] is an enjoyable concoction of first-hand accounts and modern imagination.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Nicholsonand#8217;s prose is sharp while not giving too much awayand#8230;The novel is a perfect accompaniment for a long winterand#8217;s eveningand#8230;readers who enjoy their historical fiction mixed modern mystery will enjoy Amherst.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Nicholson is an accomplished novelist (Motherland) and Oscar-nominated screenwriter in whose hands this meticulously researched and thought-provoking exploration of the nature of passionate love soars. Told in alternating chapters between the past and the present and using the poems of Emily Dickinson throughout, this work...is accessible to all and should be welcomed by book groups. Highly recommended.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Alice has come to Emily Dickinsonand#8217;s hometown to research a screenplay about the long affair between the poetand#8217;s brother Austin and Mabel Todd, a professorand#8217;s wife. Soon life tips its hat to art: Alice herself enters into an affair. Nicholson deftly weaves Mabeland#8217;s story with Aliceand#8217;s, shedding light on the timeless longing, lust and loneliness of love.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;[A] wonderfully smooth, sinuous, enigmatic and sexy tale of two love affairsand#8230; Nicholsonand#8217;s dialogue is beautifully oblique and emotionally wrought. Weand#8217;re drawn into both worlds, both romances. And of Emily and Mabel and Alice and Sue: and#8216;For love of Her and#8212; Sweet and#8212; countrymen and#8212; /Judge tenderly and#8212; of Me.and#8217;and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Dickinsonand#8217;s spirit fuels the drama, which switches between two parallel stories that illuminate the power as well as the often crippling delusion of romantic loveand#8230;. direct, provocative, even sexy at times.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;William Nicholsonand#8217;s masterly novel, zig-zagging between two contrasting eras, weaves love, sex and poetry together so seamlessly that you can hardly see the joins.and#8221;
Review
"A spiritedand#8230;investigation of the meaning of love."
Synopsis
From an Oscar-nominated screenwriter and the author of Motherland, a novel about two love affairs set in Amherst--one in the present, one in the past, and both presided over by Emily Dickinson.
Alice Dickinson, a young advertising executive in London, decides to take time off work to research her idea for a screenplay: the true story of the scandalous, adulterous love affair that took place between a young, Amherst college faculty wife, Mabel Loomis Todd, and the college's treasurer, Austin Dickinson, in the 1880s. Austin, twenty-four years Mabel's senior and married, was the brother of the reclusive poet Emily Dickinson, whose house provided the setting for Austin and Mabel's trysts.
Alice travels to Amherst, staying in the house of Nick Crocker, a married English academic in his fifties. As Alice researches Austin and Mabel's story and Emily's role in their affair, she embarks on her own affair with Nick, an affair that, of course, they both know echoes the affair that she's writing about in her screenplay.
Interspersed with Alice's complicated love story is the story of Austin and Mabel, historically accurate and meticulously recreated from their voluminous letters and diaries. Using the poems of Emily Dickinson throughout, Amherst is an exploration of the nature of passionate love, its delusions, and its glories. This novel is playful and scholarly, sexy and smart, and reminds us that the games we play when we fall in love have not changed that much over the years.
Synopsis
From an Oscar-nominated screenwriter and the author of andlt;I andgt;Motherlandandlt;/Iandgt;, a novel about two love affairs set in Amherstand#8212;one in the present, one in the past, and both presided over by Emily Dickinson.andlt;BRandgt;andlt;BRandgt;Alice Dickinson, a young advertising executive in London, decides to take time off work to research her idea for a screenplay: the true story of the scandalous, adulterous love affair that took place between a young, Amherst college faculty wife, Mabel Loomis Todd, and the collegeand#8217;s treasurer, Austin Dickinson, in the 1880s. Austin, twenty-four years Mabeland#8217;s senior and married, was the brother of the reclusive poet Emily Dickinson, whose house provided the setting for Austin and Mabeland#8217;s trysts.andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt;Alice travels to Amherst, staying in the house of Nick Crocker, a married English academic in his fifties. As Alice researches Austin and Mabeland#8217;s story and Emilyand#8217;s role in their affair, she embarks on her own affair with Nick, an affair that, of course, they both know echoes the affair that sheand#8217;s writing about in her screenplay.andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt;Interspersed with Aliceand#8217;s complicated love story is the story of Austin and Mabel, historically accurate and meticulously recreated from their voluminous letters and diaries. Using the poems of Emily Dickinson throughout, Amherst is an exploration of the nature of passionate love, its delusions, and its glories. This novel is playful and scholarly, sexy and smart, and reminds us that the games we play when we fall in love have not changed that much over the years.
About the Author
William Nicholson is a screenwriter, playwright, television writer, and novelist. In addition to his Academy Awardand#8211;nominated screenplays for andlt;iandgt;Shadowlandsandlt;/iandgt; and andlt;iandgt;Gladiatorandlt;/iandgt;, he is the author of andlt;iandgt;Motherlandandlt;/iandgt;; several young adult and fantasy novels; and a sequence of contemporary adult novels set in England. He lives in Sussex, England.