Half Life of Hannah

Published by Black & White Publishing

Publishing: Paperback 8 May 2014
ISBN10: 1 84502 719 1
ISBN13: 978 1 84502 719 3
Extent: 256 pp

“If your first love came back to offer you everything you ever dreamed of, what would you do?”

Hannah is thirty-eight and the happily married mother of eleven-year old Luke, the diamond in her world. Her marriage is reassuringly stable, and after fifteen years she has managed to push the wild dreams of youth from her mind and concentrate on the everyday satisfactions of here and now. The first half of her life hasn’t been as exciting as she had hoped, but then, she reckons, whose has?

When she succeeds in convincing husband Cliff to rent a villa in the south of France for a summer holiday with her sister Jill and gay friend Tristan, she’s expecting little more than a pleasant few weeks with her family. But they each have their own baggage – their own secrets – ready to explode on this not-so-relaxing holiday in France.

When a phone call at the villa announces the imminent arrival of a ghost from her past, the ambiance is transformed into a raging sea of jealousy as Hannah is forced to question everything she thought she knew and believed.

But is she brave enough to take the life-changing decisions her future happiness requires?

                                                                                   

Paperback publishing 5 June 2014
ISBN10: 1 84502 764 7
ISBN13: 978 1 84502 764 3
Extent: 256 pp

The synopsis for Other Halves has spoilers but if you wish to read the synopsis, you will find it on Black & White Publishing’s website here.

About the Author

I grew up in the seaside town of Margate England with four brothers including three on the web: Matthew Alexander, Greg Alexander, Steven Alexander who are all painters as was our father, Chris.

On leaving Margate, I moved to the Midlands and then Cambridge. In 1991, in need of adventure, I headed off with a backpack finally settling in Nice France where with the exception of a brief, exciting stint in New York, I have lived ever since.

After being refused by truly every publisher in the world, I self-published my first novel 50 Reasons to Say Goodbye in 2003. Encouraged by its success, I wrote and published four sequel novels: Sottopassaggio (2005), Good Thing/Bad Thing(2006), Better Than Easy(2009) and Sleight of Hand(2010) as well as a standalone novel, 13:55 Eastern Standard Time(2007).

My self published 2011 title The Case Of The Missing Boyfriend reached #1 in Amazon’s UK chart and gained me my first proper publishing contract with Corvus-Atlantic who also republished the entire 50 Reasons series and the sequel to The Case Of The Missing Boyfriend, The French House which sold more than 200,000 copies.

My 2012 novel The Half-Life Of Hannah, though mysteriously refused for publication by Corvus, again, once self published, reached number one and sold over 275,000 copies, and the paperback rights were subsequently purchased by Black and White Publishing.  Black and White are also publishing the Hannah sequel entitled Other Halves in both ebook and paperback, so I seem, finally, to be on a bit of a roll. Long may it last!

I also edit and contribute to the gay lit website, BIGfib.com

I currently spend half my time in Nice, and the other half in a cabin in the French Alps where I get bored enough to actually concentrate on writing. But whenever I can, I jump on a plane or a train to London, my favourite city in the world.

Author Links

Website

Twitter @authornick

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My Review

This is a fantastic book and I don't say that lightly. Nick Alexander made me feel as if I were a bystander watching a family holiday dissolve into chaos. I loved the relationship between the two sisters, Hannah and Jill. The love- hate balance between them is superbly captured and although their lives are very different, it's easy to see how each of them is envious of the other in different ways. The portrayal of Jill's gay friend Tristan is amusing and the relationship between him and Clive is so well observed. In fact, at times I didn't believe these were fictional characters at all!
The background of Provence and especially the Nice/Antibes area is described in just enough detail to imagine yourself there without being overdone. I also loved the ending. I now have to read 'Other alves' as I'm getting withdrawal symptoms.

My rating
5/5