Second Best

by David Cook

"Heartbreaking."

"Pulls no punches."

Book of the movie, 'Second Best' starring William Hurt.

As adoption stories go this powerful novel about a crippling relationship between father and son is one of the most heartbreaking books you're likely to read. There are few depths of despair as deep as when family life is torn apart by dysfunctional relationships.

'A son.' These two words, absent-mindedly added to a shopping list, will change the life of Graham Holt, a village sub-postmaster caring for his invalid father. For so many years he as stood behind a reinforced screen, selling stamps and knitting-patterns, but now he has accepted that those two words express what he wants.
Graham needs a son; James Lennards, ten, needs a father, and thinks he knows what father he needs -- his own, a soldier of fortune languishing in prison. To James, Graham is definitely second best. To Graham, James seems always to be several steps ahead. Which of these two is the father, which the son?

Genres: Fiction

224 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

David Cook is a British author, screenwriter and actor.
He studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London and his first role was in the 1962 film adaptation of A Kind of Loving. He began to write in the early 1970s - his first novel Albert's Memorial was published in 1972.
He won several awards: Writers Guild award, 1977; American Academy E.M. Forster award, 1977; Hawthornden prize, 1978; Arts Council bursary, 1979; Southern Arts prize, 1985; Arthur Welton scholarship, 1991.; Odd Fellow Concern Book award, 1992.

Reviews

[Laura Hardiman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Traumatising, thanks David

[Yumiko Hansen]

It was a marvellous story - the best part was that when Graham descrive about a week he spent with his father on the beach at Westward Ho, for him it was the best time of his life but it had gone and would have become somewhat embarrasing and out of place front of his mother as they approached home. And he overheard his father telling his wife that it hadn't been much fun " - all those mixed feelings Cook writes are so true for someone who are damaged and excluded...

[Cristina Campbell-Hewson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was lovely, sad and harrowing in parts but i think it does a very good job at describing complexities in relationships, especially the universal need for people to love us combined with the fear that they won’t.

[lena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sehr emotionale Leseerfahrung mit dem typisch düster-trockenen englischen Humor, den ich so liebe. Das Buch hat mich an einer gewissen Stelle so sehr geschockt, dass ich fast bereit war, das Buch wegzulegen. Aber nur fast; die Story hatte mich bis zu diesem Punkt zu sehr mitgerissen, sodass ich weitergelesen habe. Und ich wurde nicht enttäuscht. Ein sehr Empathie lehrendes Buch mit einem Autor, der sich über viele schwierige Themen Gedanken macht. Schwierige Themen, über die man sich teils selbst nur widerwillig Gedanken machen würde: Resultate eines bittersüßen Unbehagen, von dem man so viel mitnehmen kann.

Das einzige, was mich gestört hat, ist dass das Ende doch ein wenig abgehackt wirkte aber sonst echt empfehlenswert. Da habe ich die 1€ auf dem Bücherflohmarkt echt gut investiert!

[France-Andrée · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderfully well written story about a 36 year old man who decides the emptiness in his life will be erased by adopting a 10 year old. Could have been a fairy tale, but human relationships are so much more complicated.

I liked so many things about this book, how both point of view father/son are expressed in the first person in alternating chapters, how the different steps in the adoption are not skipped over, how the complexity of a child with a past is explored, etc. The characters are all fully realized and the story feels very anchored in its reality.

Had a little difficulty getting to read the book, having to order it from the UK and it being and old library copy and someone (or maybe more than one someone) ate while reading... I saw there was a ebook version that came out years ago, but not available here in Canada so snail mail it was, but it was well worth the wait!

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was wonderful. I will remember the two main characters for a long time. I was sorry for the book to end.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

No idea how this book made it into my library - a lovely charming and touching story about a lonely bachelor adopting a 10 year old boy.

[Brenda Lawrenson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book some years ago, after watching the film on TV. It was such a sad little tale, but ultimately quite uplifting. I loved it.

[Sharon Zink · Rating 5 out of 5]

A middle-aged unmarried British postal worker decides he wants to adopt a boy. A very engrossing account of how they work through difficulties to accomplish the adoption. A very good book.