The Good Guy, Susan Beale
The Good Guy, Susan Beale
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The Good Guy
A deeply compelling novel about love and marriage set in 1960s suburban America

Author: Susan Beale

Narrator: Caitlin Shannon, Craig Van Ness

Unabridged: 10 hr 8 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: John Murray

Published: 02/09/2017

Categories: Fiction

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.

(P)2017 John Murray Press

About Susan Beale

Susan Beale's first novel, The Good Guy, was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award in 2016. A graduate of the Bath Spa MA in Creative Writing, she lived in Brussels for over sixteen years and currently resides in Amsterdam.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Cindy H. on February 05, 2018

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of Susan Beale's debut, The Good Guy. Set in 1960's suburbia, where every home on the block has a small patch of green grass outside and inside is the happy homemaker preparing meatloaf for her hardworking decent husband. Except Ab......more

Goodreads review by Ellie on January 02, 2018

In 1960s New England Ted & Abigail live a seemingly perfect life. Childhood sweethearts, they are now married with a baby. Ted works as a tyre salesman and is successful whereas Abigail is home with baby, attending women's groups and feeling unfulfilled. As part of Ted's work he's invited to attend......more

Goodreads review by Anne on December 16, 2016

I heard about The Good Guy when I read an article in a magazine about the author, I was intrigued and determined to get hold of and read her novel. I'm so very glad that I did. This really is a wonderfully written, intelligent and astute story, and was inspired by events in the author's own life. Set......more

Goodreads review by Thelastwordreview on July 05, 2016

When this book arrived in early June I sat and looked at the cover for some time wondering what the premise of the story was about. The cover is just sublime. The Good Guy by Susan Beale is inspired by her own true life events after reading her adoption files and from conversations with her birth mo......more

Goodreads review by Raquel on September 19, 2017

Las mentiras se encadenan una detrás de otra, se vuelven adictivas y la facilidad con la que se despliegan es tal que reconfortan al propio mentiroso quien, lejos de ser una mala persona, es lo que llamaríamos "un buen tipo". En torno a este eje central gira la historia de este libro que toca varios......more

Quotes

A joy Samantha Harvey, author of The Wilderness

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 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

There's definitely a Mad Men vibe to The Good Guy Red, Best Books to Read this June

Fresh and lively Daily Mail

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

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

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

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

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

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