The Start of Something

by Holly Williams

An intoxicating, provocative and thought-provoking novel that through ten interlocking sexual encounters, questions what true intimacy and love might look like in today's world.

Every love story has a beginning.
But the ending is yet to be written...

'Elijah is gripped by a vertiginous feeling, a short shock of realisation of how much he wants this to be the start of something, just as he reaches a precipice that reveals it might be the end...'

The Start of Something follows the lives of ten interlocking characters, as their lives collide unexpectedly and often romantically - from thrilling first meetings and touching moments, to long-held loves or abuses of power - that explore what true intimacy and love might look like in today's world.

A razor-sharp, intoxicating and thought-provoking novel that will appeal to fans of Expectation by Anna Hope, Normal People by Sally Rooney, Insatiable by Daisy Buchanan and Amazon Prime's Modern Love.

Genres: Contemporary, Fiction

368 pages, Hardcover

Published April 11, 2024

About the author

Holly Williams is a journalist and worked for The Independent for six years. She has written for many publications including The New York Times, The FT, The Telegraph, The i newspaper, ELLE, and the BBC, as well as returning to The Independent to edit its arts section. She is currently a theatre critic for Time Out and The Mail on Sunday, and a book reviewer for The Observer and The TLS. She was born in Wales and currently lives in Sheffield. What Time Is Love? is her first novel.

Reviews

[Alwynne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Holly Williams’s episodic novel consciously reworks aspects of Arthur Schnitzler's famous play La Ronde, first produced in 1897. Like Schnitzler, Williams follows an apparently disparate series of individuals whose lives unexpectedly overlap and intersect through their physical, primarily sexual encounters, eventually forming a circle of sorts joining first to last. Williams’s story’s rooted in the present. Set in and around the north of England, it opens in Sheffield with Will who’s using Tinder to get over a failed relationship, meeting with women but dreaming of one man Elijah he’s been flirting with for weeks.

Williams deliberately features a diverse cast – ten in all – offering glimpses into their expectations and thoughts about intimacy and connection. So, we’re presented with characters like middle-aged academic Anthony, lesbian Prisha, sex worker and single mother Soo, pansexual sixth-former Jasmine and non-binary JB. Williams delves into their experiences as part of a broader exploration of contemporary relationships, questions of intimacy and power and how they might manifest in queer or hetero or polyamorous settings. Williams used advisors and sensitivity readers to craft the scenes and figures outside her own experience.

It’s a lucid, fluid, clever piece, carefully observed, themes and surroundings echo each other – references to art, artists, ways of seeing surface throughout. There were times when the perspective reminded me of an airbrushed, more self-conscious Eliza Clark, at others a less sanitised version of the kinds of stories writers like David Nicholls are known for. There were numerous pleasing, entertaining elements but I wasn’t quite the right fit for this one. I sometimes found William’s approach a frustrating mix of superficial and overly earnest. And the structure made it difficult for me to fully invest in her characters or their individual predicaments - I wasn’t surprised to find out this is a candidate for a television series, I could definitely see it working as a raunchier, Brit-style Modern Love.

Thanks to Netgalley and publisher Orion for an ARC

Rating: 2.5

[grace wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

look, the start of something just probavly wasnt for me. ten stories interweaving, all about love and sex and hope. concept was spot on, writing was strong but the stories just left me wanting more. i thought all stories would interweave together but only some did with other characters left behind, and vague descriptions of people we met in the first 50 pages fome back in the last 30 (how the hell am i meant to know who the nervous boy is???) with no further elaboration. there was so much potential in this concept but it fell flat. overall, i did like several of the stories but a lot of them felt fake and unrealistic. maybe not a book for maybe, or maybe i’m just so out of love it seems like a weird kink thing. idk yo mama

[Fozz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Are the people of the world beautifully connected or is the world of dating just mortifyingly small?

[Charlie Grimes Moran · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️
‘and for elijah, it feels like the forest has closed in all around them; his existence has shrunk to this, their own private green world, as if for a moment nothing else exists, no cities or bars or computers or phones or families or anything, just the booming of this big muscle inside his ribcage.’

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book but I didn’t love it.

The Start of Something is essentially ten separate short stories focusing on ten different characters/pairings that are all linked via their (sexual) interactions with one another.

It’s not a format of storytelling that I’ve come across before and I thought it was quite clever.

I thought all of the characters were interesting in their own way, although I’d be lying if I said I liked all of them.

The writing style was okay, however there were times when it felt like I was reading an essay on feminism/gender politics, which resulted in me skim-reading parts – particularly in the middle chapters.

This meant that the middle section of the book ended up dragging a bit, however I enjoyed reading the first and last few chapters.

Overall this was a good read, but it won’t be for everyone.

[ree · Rating 3 out of 5]

rather enjoyed this. the start of something has ten chapters, each narrated by a different interconnected character (think "my [open relationship] girlfriend slept with this girl who's boyfriend ran out on her because of his manager being a pos to her tinder date" sort of connection to each other) (yes these are all plot points for some of the characters). it's quite cool to think of this narrative structure in terms of just how small the world is, and in the sense that we are all more interconnected by mutuality than we'll ever know. some perspectives were more interesting than others, as always is the case with multiple povs, but i think holly williams did a great job at exploring the human condition, love, sexuality, regret, and more.

i selfishly wish some of the characters had more fleshed out chapters! for example, really wanted to find out more on what would've ended up happening with the manda/si/jasmine storyline; did jasmine find out?? is si okay?? manda is honestly a bit of a pos lol.

overall: enjoyed this, and we are all interconnected!

[Pollyanna Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow okay, so I started this book and was apprehensive with its jumpy narrative and it felt difficult to get into the first few chapters and their correlating characters. However, about 100 pages in, I suddenly became really immersed in each character and how intimately this book was written. It’s left me feeling a bit emotionally overwhelmed.

[Vina Slv · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely had chapters I enjoyed more than others, but overall a fairly breezy read. I think I read it at a good time as it made me feel excited by the possibility of life/range of humans I could meet.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book shows just how interlinked our lives can be. It pushes the idea of ‘a friend of a friend’ to its limits and yet still remains believable. The idea of this connection is emphasised further by the repeated mentions of particular descriptive terms and items throughout the book. The ‘ancient floral duvet’ is just one example of this and a smile always appeared on my face when I found another!

The reader immediately falls into the intriguing story of Will in chapter one. I raced through this but will admit I found chapter two slowed down a little and this is why I haven’t given the book five stars. I didn’t connect with the main character as much and I felt some scenes or conversations could have been shortened slightly. From chapter three onwards however the pace really picked up. I felt every bit of Si’s emotional turmoil and I could have believed I was actually at the festival with Rachel. Each chapter flows seamlessly from one to the next and it’s interesting to have the opportunity to see each encounter or relationship from both sides.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book in return for an honest review.

[Áine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this so easy to read at the start and then I felt like it was never going to end.

[Alias · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly good for a book that's all about talking, but I suppose that's what relationships often have. I liked the more subtle ways the stories intertwined and I wish that the final perspective (Elijah) wasn't so blatantly connected to the first perspective (William).

I'm also just going to say the following: fuck drugs and fuck polyamory. I'm glad there are healthy examples of polyamory in this book; it is fiction after all and I don't have to agree with something to enjoy reading it. But I'm still going to say that polyamory is a sham. If you're lucky, it works, but that's the exception, and there's a reason most people rightfully reject and have rejected the idea of sharing partners in history. "... yes, life is long and people in long-term relationships seem to love cheating on each other. And that some of the cleverer ones have found frameworks to explain away this cheating. But as far as she's concerned, 'relationship anarchy' and 'ethical non-monogamy' are all just a big excuse for being selfish. She and her friends have already encountered enough polyamorous feminist fuckbois, shamelessly abusing terminology in order to justify sleeping around, to feel really quite firm on this."

As for drugs? Oh, I don't know, maybe don't rape one of your workers (power difference + peer pressure on Si to take drugs + he didn't ask for it, and he was about to say that he had a girlfriend and didn't want it + he was not enjoying it) while you're both high on cocaine. Poor Syzamon. At least it's implied he works things out. The rest of this book romanticises drugs a fair amount, which sucks. Alcohol alone is bad enough.

Still, it seems that Holly knows some of these experiences and topics won't be loved by everyone, which is why there's a healthy diversity of characters. (My favourite was Anthony; I hope he saved his marriage in the end.)

[Becks · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book does a great job with all of the different ways lives can overlap. Here it's focused on a messy web of romanctic and sexual connections, weaving across 10 different lives. It spans marriage, relationships just starting, open relationships, sex work, casual one night stands. The transition from person to person is pretty seamless. Almost gives the feeling of short stories but we already have a little insight into each character before they become the lead.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cleverly constructed novel - or is it a set of short stories? in which ten characters in turn have their inner stories revealed. Each character has slept with the one before. Several are exploring or questioning their sexuality: some are lonely, because or in spite of their relationship; some are heartbroken: all are seeking - something. One chapter is coming t an end for each of them, another is beginning. And at the end, there is hope for the two people with whom the book closes.

[Holly Palmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this.
Williams did a great job of developing so many characters! Most of the story lines had pace to them and I genuinely believed in most of the relationships and interactions which allowed me to reflect on them as people and learn from their perspectives.
I do not agree that any characters needed to be developed further.
Some of the descriptions of settings felt unnecessary or immature.

[Chlo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Understanding the complexity of human connection is so difficult but Williams seems to do it so perfectly. Each character feels so real and are connected to one another in such real ways. Beautiful to see in literature.

[Maddi Aitchison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very much a mid reading experience.
Enjoyed some of the characters, though most were super insipid.
Appreciated the openness of the world, but it felt more like a "throw everything at the wall and see what sticks" anthology.

[Sasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.9 stars perhaps. I actually really enjoy this sort of structure, and thought the stories were mostly interesting and kept me entertained. Expected a bit more linking together at the end. Didn’t blow me away but an enjoyable read

[Naomi Thorne · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 ⭐ Initially hard to get on board because it had some quite uncomfortable characters in it and I didn’t really find myself rooting for/caring about any of them! Think this style of book (one chapter per character with individual stories) is just not my fave

[Kine Ellingsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kult å oppleve alle personene utenfra og deretter innenfra. Persepsjon er et kult konsept.

Til dels spennende å sette seg inn i så mange forskjellige liv og livssituasjoner. Men utførelsen er ikke helt på topp. Blir liksom ikke kjent skikkelig med karakterene og jeg orker så vidt å lese den ferdig.

[isymb · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love interconnecting stories!! I love prose!! I love Sheffield!!!

[Madeline · Rating 2 out of 5]

tbh kind of hated this

[Corey Zerna · Rating 3 out of 5]

really enjoyed the journey this took me on, although i felt it got a bit stuck with JB & Soo
rating is 3.5 stars

[Catrin Simpson · Rating 1 out of 5]

gave me a panic attack. DNF

[Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Am I sad, happy, or horny? Probably all of the above in todays society.

[Madison Dore · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don’t know I just found this quite slow and boring and didn’t end up finishing it.

[bell · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars