The Hopeless Life Of Charlie Summers, Paul Torday
The Hopeless Life Of Charlie Summers, Paul Torday
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The Hopeless Life Of Charlie Summers

Author: Paul Torday

Narrator: Simon J. Williamson

Unabridged: 9 hr 1 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/25/2013


Synopsis

Hector Chetwode-Talbot, Eck to his friends, has left the army and is slightly at a loss as to what to do next, when he is approached by an old army pal, Bilbo Mountwilliam. Bilbo runs an investment fund company and business is booming. Bilbo persuades Eck to join the company as a 'greeter' for moneyed clients. All Eck has to do is supply the contacts with entertainment and large G&Ts and then the fund managers will do the rest.

Soon Eck is able to buy himself a luxury sports car and decadent flat. It is on a golfing trip to France that Eck first meets Charlie Summers, a fly-by-night entrepreneur whose latest scheme is to import Japanese dog food into the UK.

Soon Charlie lands on Eck's doorstep with his suitcase, intent on staying and relaunching his dog food business in the area. But with the financial crash looming, Eck begins to ask himself if they are so very different...

Read by Simon J. Williamson. Simon's roles on stage include Charlie Bell in FRED KARNO'S ARMY (Bristol Old Vic), Sagredo in Brecht's LIFE OF GALILEO (Young Vic) and Donalbain in MACBETH (Leicester Haymarket/The People Show). Series television includes THE BILL, CASUALTY, LONDON'S BURNING and WAITING FOR GOD. In film he played Max Rebo in RETURN OF THE JEDI, Ursol in Jim Henson's DARK CRYSTAL, and was a puppeteer in three MUPPET movies. Audiobook work includes the BROTHER CADFAEL series, Adam Hall's QUILLER BALALAIKA and James Fox's WHITE MISCHIEF.

(p) 2013 Orion Publishing Group

About Paul Torday

Paul Torday burst on to the literary scene in 2007 with his first novel, SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN, an immediate international bestseller that has been translated into 28 languages and has been made into a film starring Ewan McGregor, Kristin Scott Thomas and Emily Blunt. His subsequent novels, THE IRRESISTIBLE INHERITANCE OF WILBERFORCE, THE GIRL ON THE LANDING, THE HOPELESS LIFE OF CHARLIE SUMMERS, MORE THAN YOU CAN SAY, THE LEGACY OF HARTLEPOOL HALL and LIGHT SHINING IN THE FOREST, were all published to great critical acclaim. He was married with two sons by a previous marriage, had two stepsons, and lived close to the River North Tyne. He died at home in December 2013.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Karen

I am thrilled to have discovered author Torday, and dismayed that I have finished reading everything he has written to date. Excellent and versatile author. I loved the humor in "Salmon Fishing on the Yemen" but his other books remind me of Ian McEwan--more serious commentaries on modern life and so......more

много добра книга. обрана печал поднесена с неподражаемото, британско чуство за хумор, мярка и стил.......more

Goodreads review by Agnese

An unremarkable book. A story of common miseries like those that one can find in any newspaper everyday. Charlie Summers, the main loser among losers, is the only interesting character for his emotional depth. The others, including the narrator, are quite flat and boring. Nothing new is said in this......more

Goodreads review by Bob

Clever stuff. Reads like a dream. This combines complexity with simplicity and farce with gritty reality. Almost impossible to describe. Charlie Summers is a magnificent invention who occupies the pages in a way that no other character I've ever read has. Charlie appears throughout the novel the way......more


Quotes

One of the most outstanding authors to have emerged in recent years DAILY EXPRESS

Brilliantly and sympathetically drawn...this wonderfully written, clever book does not miss a single trick DAILY MAIL

Funny, touching and ultimately surprising SCOTSMAN

Charlie is a wonderful creation, at once sad and heroic, whose search for redemption attains real pathos at the end of this affecting, skilfully crafted novel FINANCIAL TIMES

Torday is master of blending satire with gentle humanity PSYCHOLOGIES

Shades of both Greene and Ambler here, both in the crispness of the exposition and the marrying of humour with something close to tragedy SPECTATOR

A beautifully told tale - we loved it! BELLA

A brilliant, page-turning read that combines the pace of Torday's THE GIRL ON THE LANDING with his trademark humour in SALMON FISHING GRANTA

A fine tale. Even the worst of us, according to this novel, can find redemption DAILY EXPRESS

His quietly compassionate portrait of Charlie has powerful echoes off Dickens's Sydney Carton in A TALE OF TWO CITIES METRO