While The Sun Shines - Softcover

Harding, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0552999660 ISBN 13: 9780552999663

Publisher: Black Swan, 2002

Synopsis

At fifty the guarantee runs out...
About to hit the big five-oh, obsessed with sex, cocaine-fuelled and gripped by a crippling fear of death, Professor Michael Cole is finding life a bit of a struggle.
It's finding the time to squeeze everything in, really. He's supposedly writing the definitive biography of his literary hero, John Donne, but barely manages three hundred words a week. His insatiable enthusiasm for his prettier female students might be partly to blame, but they are only young once. And the fact that one of his female colleagues has yet to succumb to his charms is, admittedly, a distraction he could well do without. But throw in a fight for promotion, a wife to lie to and two small children to look after and it's no wonder his blood pressure has reached life-threatening heights. He knows the time has come to act his age. The question is how.
Because Michael Cole is very much a creature of habit and, as we all know, old habits die hard. But it's when he's caught in the act of adultery by his grandmother that Cole truly begins to see the writing on the wall. After all, she's been dead for twenty-five years...

Marrying humour, heart and a singular understanding of the human condition, WHILE THE SUN SHINES is an uproariously funny yet hugely affecting novel about growing-old disgracefully and the price we sometimes have to pay...

About this title

About the Author

John Harding was born in a small Fenland village in the Isle of Ely in 1951. After local village and grammar schools, he read English at St Catherine's College, Oxford, where he once sat next to Martin Amis during a lecture. He worked first as a newspaper reporter, then as a writer and editor in magazines, before becoming a freelance writer. His first novel was the acclaimed and bestselling WHAT WE DID ON OUR HOLIDAY. He lives in Richmond upon Thames with his wife and two sons.

From the Back Cover

At fifty the guarantee runs out.

Obsessed with sex, increasingly cocaine-fuelled and gripped by a crippling fear of death, Professor Michael Cole finds his life spinning out of control. He's supposed to be writing the definitive biography of his literary hero, John Donne, yet barely manages a few hundred words a week. He knows he really shouldn't seduce his prettier female students but it's hard to stop because they're only young once. And the failure of a colleague to succumb to his waning charms is a challenge he could well do without. Throw in a fight for promotion, a wife to lie to and two small children to look after and it's no wonder his blood pressure has soared to life-threatening heights. Something has to give.

But Michael is a creature of habit and old habits die hard, especially the bad ones. It's only when he's caught in the act of adultery by his grandmother that he sees the writing is on the wall. After all, she's been dead for twenty-five years...

Funny, compelling, tender and truthful, While the Sun Shines confirms John Harding as a wonderfully shrewd and provocative chronicler of the human condition.

Edition details

• Publisher: Black Swan
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0552999660
• ISBN 13: 9780552999663
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 384