A Week in December

by Sebastian Faulks

Paperback

Published September 2, 2010

About the author

Sebastian Faulks is a British novelist, journalist, and broadcaster best known for his acclaimed historical novels set in France, including The Girl at the Lion d'Or, Birdsong, and Charlotte Gray. Alongside these, he has written contemporary fiction, a James Bond continuation novel (Devil May Care), and a Jeeves homage (Jeeves and the Wedding Bells). A former literary editor and journalist, Faulks gained widespread recognition with Birdsong, which solidified his literary reputation. He has also appeared regularly on British media, notably as a team captain on BBC Radio 4's The Write Stuff, and authored the TV tie-in Faulks on Fiction. Honored as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and appointed CBE for his services to literature, Faulks continues to publish widely, with The Seventh Son released in 2023.

Reviews

[Cat Dobson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought the character development was the real strength of this book - there must be at least 20 characters, all written with such human detail and complex inner worlds that they felt vibrantly real.

The plot was less gripping, though I see why it was praised for deftly weaving everything together. It was maybe a tapestry with too many threads, and the frequent flitting between characters who had not yet been linked up made at least the first half of the book feel disjointed, as though I was reading a series of short stories.

The most interesting aspect was the cyclist - I noticed the cyclist after the second or third time someone nearly got knocked over, and I found it both satisfying that the cyclist had a part to play in the ‘finale’, but also the wider questions the cyclist could raise about the ‘hand of god’ in our daily lives, or alternatively how people seek out meaning when maybe there is just chance.

Three stars because I have a lot of thoughts about the book, but my overall enjoyment wasn’t particularly high.