Juliet, Naked - Softcover

Hornby, Nick

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0670915661 ISBN 13: 9780670915668

Publisher: Viking, 2009

Synopsis

Annie and Duncan are a mid-thirties couple who have reached a fork in the road, realising their shared interest in the reclusive musician Tucker Crowe (in Duncan's case, an obsession rather than an interest) is not enough to hold them together any more. When Annie hates Tucker's 'new release', a terrible demo of his most famous album, it's the last straw - Duncan cheats on her and she promptly throws him out. Via an internet discussion forum, Annie's harsh opinion reaches Tucker himself, who couldn't agree more. He and Annie start an unlikely correspondence which teaches them both something about moving on from years of wasted time. Nick Hornby's compelling new novel, four years after "A Long Way Down", is about the nature of creativity and obsession, and how two lonely people can gradually find each other.

About this title

Review

Juliet, Naked is Hornby's best novel to date. (Simon Baker, The Spectator 2009-09-09)

Subtle and insightful, and really quite touching. (Laurence Phelan, The Independent on Sunday 2009-08-30)

Ingenious, funny and moving, but also examines loneliness, self obsession and the dangers of communicating solely through a keyboard. (Wendy Holden, Daily Mail 2009-09-11)

Hornby writes so well that you can almost smell the birdseed odour of badly dried clothes combined with failure that pervades Annie's house; his triumph though is to find infinite amounts of warmth and humour in this seeming world of desolation. (Roger Perkins, Sunday Telegraph magazine 2009-09-13)

It's good to have him back. Nick Hornby's first adult novel in four years is a comic delight. Hornby's writing has an easy, fluent tone, as if he is right inside his characters' heads. (Nick Curtis, Evening Standard 2009-08-27)

In Hornby's fiction, music is never just about music; among contemporary writers, only Jonathan Lethem has his sure sense for the way popular cultural artefacts become entwined, for good or ill, with ordinary relationships; and in particular, how pop songs minister to deep needs while exposing all too many fresh ones. (Bharat Tandon, TLS 2009-09-04)

Juliet, Naked is Hornby's best novel to date. (Simon Baker The Spectator 2009-09-09)

subtle and insightful, and really quite touching. (Laurence Phelan The Independent on Sunday 2009-08-30)

ingenious, funny and moving, but also examines loneliness, self obsession and the dangers of communicating solely through a keyboard. (Wendy Holden Daily Mail 2009-09-11)

Hornby writes so well that you can almost smell the birdseed odour of badly dried clothes combined with failure that pervades Annie's house; his triumph though is to find infinite amounts of warmth and humour in this seeming world of desolation. (Roger Perkins Sunday Telegraph magazine 2009-09-13)

From the Back Cover

'Hornby's best novel to date' Spectator

'Sharply funny, touching' Daily Telegraph

Annie's put fifteen years into safe, slightly obsessive Duncan, and now she'd like her money back, please. It's time to move on. But she lives in Gooleness, the north's answer to a question nobody asked. Is she really going to find real, proper, feel-it-deep-down-in-your-boots love on a damp and windy sea-front? Or perhaps she should follow her heart and pursue Tucker, the reclusive American rock star, who keeps emailing her his smart advice.

But between Annie and her second chance lie a few obstacles. There's Malcolm the world's most judgmental therapist and Barnesy, the north's most extrovert dancer. There's what men and women will do and won't do for love. And, of course, there's Tucker . . .

Hilarious and tender, Juliet, Naked will move you in ways both profound and surprising. It is Nick Hornby at his brilliant best.

'Profoundly affecting, wise, humane, witty. A return to the groove of High Fidelity' Independent

'Pitch-perfect' Observer

'Funny, a comic delight . . . it's good to have him back' Evening Standard

About this edition

• Publisher: Viking
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0670915661
• ISBN 13: 9780670915668
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256