Reckless

by William Nicholson

1945. The Second World War has gone on too long. Shops are closed ‘for the duration’. Trains run a restricted service ‘for the duration’. Life has paused, for the duration. A little girl, Pamela, is growing up fast. A young Englishman, Rupert Blundell, vows there’ll be no more wars. Both are waiting for their lives to begin.

Then comes Hiroshima. Finally, devastatingly, the war is over.

1962. Rupert is now strategic advisor to Lord Mountbatten, and his close confidant. Pamela is eighteen and has moved to London, eager for love and experience of every kind. There’ll be parties at Cliveden, Christine Keeler, Stephen Ward, the Astors. Life is a whirlwind.

But beneath the glamour lies quiet, desperate terror, as the Cuban missile crisis unfolds and the world spins ever closer to nuclear war.

Reckless is a gripping novel set against the world in crisis, by a superb novelist at the height of his powers.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction

512 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 30, 2014

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

William Nicholson was born in 1948, and grew up in Sussex and Gloucestershire. His plays for television include Shadowlands and Life Story , both of which won the BAFTA Best Television Drama award in their year; other award-winners were Sweet As You Are and The March . In 1988 he received the Royal Television Society's Writer's Award. His first play, an adaptation of Shadowlands for the stage, was Evening Standard Best Play of 1990, and went on to a Tony Award winning run on Broadway. He was nominated for an Oscar for the screenplay of the film version, which was directed by Richard Attenborough and starred Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger.

Since then he has written more films - Sarafina, Nell, First Knight, Grey Owl , and Gladiator (as co-writer), for which he received a second Oscar nomination. He has written and directed his own film, Firelight ; and three further stage plays, Map of the Heart , Katherine Howard and The Retreat from Moscow , which ran for five months on Broadway and received three Tony Award nominations.

His novel for older children, The Wind Singer, won the Smarties Prize Gold Award on publication in 2000, and the Blue Peter Book of the Year Award in 2001. Its sequel, Slaves of the Mastery , was published in May 2001, and the final volume in the trilogy, Firesong , in May 2002. The trilogy has been sold in every major foreign market, from the US to China.

He is now at work on a new sequence of novels for older children, called The Noble Warriors . The first book, Seeker , was published in the UK in September 2005.The second book, Jango, in 2006 and the third book NOMAN, will be published in September 2007.

His novels for adults are The Society of Others (April 2004) and The Trial of True Love (April 2005).

He lives in Sussex with his wife Virginia and their three children.

from williamnicholson.co.uk

Reviews

[Pablo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I usually enjoy books with a historical background. This one combines the cuban missile crisis and swinging London. I liked how it focuses each chapter on one character only, and although it's a good book I felt it was a bit weak on the storyline.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Starting with Hiroshima and fast forwarding to the 1960s Cold War, and the high life in London, Nicholson's fictionalised account deals with both global and personal themes. Kennedy and Khrushchev; their idiolects and games of negotiation ring true. Lots of detail about missiles and a genuine sense that a nuclear was was (is?) possible! Other 'real people' are Christine Keeler, Stephen Ward and The Astors, living a hedonistic if tawdry lifestyle of sex and booze. Their scandals are less convincing; and so are the fictional protagonists. I was hooked though!

[Lesley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and well written. I've read several other books in this sort of series. Trouble is they are so all over the place that I can't make the characters fit with each other. Taken singly they are great, try and make them into a whole and they are just messy.

[Sylvia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant. Really enjoyed this. The author cleverly weaves historical fact and characters in with the main characters of the book. I now intend to look at his other work.

[Judy Sutherland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard to get into at first, but great characterisation of the central figures.

[Karen Ross · Rating 2 out of 5]

I could see what the author wanted to do with this book; create a stor within a historical context. it sort of works but not too much for me.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This ambitious novel manages to pull off something quite difficult – to encompass both global and also personal themes - and make both strands work. The story is built around the Cuban missile crisis and there are appearances by real, historical characters; such as Kennedy, Mountbatten, Macmillan, Khrushchev and Stephen Ward, as well as Russian spy ‘Eugene’ Ivanov, both of whom were involved in the later Profumo Affair.

The story begins with the unleashing of atomic weapons on Japan, in the last stages of WWII. Three young men meet around that time – Rupert Blundell, who works for Mountbatten, Mac Bundy, an American who later works with Kennedy and Oleg Troyanovsky, a Russian. The devastation of nuclear power is something both sides wish to use as a deterrent and a threat; but the real and present fear of war is evident. Nuclear bombs, once unleashed, are a real threat to the people in this book and you do feel the freeze and fear of the Cold War. People literally did think the world could end and, you also sense, that the politicians are not totally in control of the situation...

Much of the novel is seen from the point of view of Rupert Blundell; who, although successful in his career is a lonely man. One day he comes across a young woman in a park, who is obviously worried and unhappy and he helps her find a place in the home of his friend Hugo and his wife Harriet. Also staying with them is young Pamela Avenell, the step-daughter of Hugo’s business partner. In their own ways, both are quite mysterious. Mary has a past which she is keen to keep secret. Pamela is desperate to discover her power over men, lives life for the moment and becomes involved with Stephen Ward, who introduces her to the likes of Christine Keeler and Mandy Rice-Davies. I suspect we were supposed to sympathise with Pamela, but I have to admit I found her a deeply unlikeable young woman.

The author manages to build events – both political and personal – with great talent. You do sympathise with most of the characters and he really does capture that feeling of escalating fear, as people imagine that war could break out any moment. Although it is based around such serious world issues, the main emphasis is always on how things affect the characters and you do care what happens to them. At the end of the book, the author mentions that his previous novels all feature characters which are related to some of those in this book; whether past or future, throughout the generations. However, this is a stand-alone novel and you certainly do not need to have any previous knowledge about characters in order to read this. Overall, I found this an intelligent, well written novel, with a great plot and characters and an interesting storyline. I look forward to reading more from this talented author in the future, as well as exploring his past novels.

[Elaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really gripping read that I found very hard to put down. Starting in 1945 and Hiroshima and Nagasaki and fast forwarding to 1962 it is a political drama that is very easy to read. There are characters here who first feature in Motherland which I hadn’t read, but that didn’t really matter –although I may have understood some of the characters a little more if I had. What I think is more important is that I had some, although not a lot, of knowledge of the Cuban missile crisis and particularly the Profumo scandal to draw on, as some of those people are featured here and it helped everything gel in my mind a bit, and helped me understand the motives of some of the characters more.

The main part of the story is that of Rupert Blundell, adviser to Mountbatten and a man who leads a very solitary private life. He is charged by Mountbatten to try and think of ways in which a nuclear war, if it ever looked likely, could be averted without loss of face to any of the world leaders involved. This exercise very soon turns into reality as the Cuban missile crisis strikes. The story of the crisis and the political manouverings was told in a very easy to understand, interesting way. The author really brought over the tension and fear that was felt by everyone at the time, that the world would be destroyed in a matter of days.

The other part of the story involves Pamela, a young member of Rupert’s extended family, who comes to London to live, love and have a good time. In contrast to Rupert’s world, hers is one of partying with the likes of Christine Keeler, Stephen Ward and Yevgeny Ivanov amongst others.

The third strand involves Mary, a lonely Irish girl who is befriended by Rupert in London. She is a woman with a secret and her own story to tell although I did feel that this part of the story, to an extent, took something away from the rest of the book – it just didn’t seem to quite “fit”. The same could be said for Pamela’s story, as it seems in total contrast to the rest of the book. It was only when I put two and two together and remembered who some of the characters were in real life that it all connected in my brain.

As the crisis passes the characters face their own internal demons and all come out the other end changed in some ways, and I admit I am dying to know what happened next to Pamela.

Thanks to the publishers for an ARC in return for an honest review.

[Lisa M · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book. It's part political drama / part romance set in the early Sixties at the time of the Cuban crisis. Mostly set in the UK it's about the stand off between US and Soviet Russia from WWII on wards but mostly concentrated in the 1961-62 years when the UK finds itself the ally of US with nuclear weapons they only have dual control over with the US pointed at Russia. Being much closer to Russia than the US should there be an outbreak of war the UK would be the first target of Russia - an uncomfortable position to be in.

The main character Rupert is a government advisor with a strong philosophical bent and he can see that the traditional warfare and international diplomacy strategies pre-atom bomb is futile. Having a weapon that can't actually be used because it would be the end of humanity is something that he grapples with and is trying to get his colleagues in government to also engage with the new reality and complexities and thus new international political strategies are painstakingly created.

Meanwhile the other main character is Pamela who is an 18 years old, very pretty, with no direction or goal in life. The assumption is that she would get married which she is questioning - but has no skills to fall back on and finds her only weapon is her beauty. She finds herself in society both powerful and powerless.

The two characters separate lives and stories do overlap so as a whole it's a fantastic multi-layered novel where the small details of political super powers play against the critical details of small lives.

My only criticism is the short prelude. In the prelude three young officers from the main allies UK, Russia and USA (France is not represented?) go to some aristocrats country house for afternoon tea with Princess Elizabeth. First I hated the way Elizabeth and the aristocrat was represented. Secondly it felt very staged in a way that would work in a film but not a novel. Third it seemed to set up the three officers as the three main characters, when in fact only one was a main character and the other two played very small roles, and Pamela wasn't introduced in the prelude at all? I waited the whole book to find out the significance of the prelude and it was never made clear. It should have been edited out.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

As the Second World War draws to a close three junior officers, one Russian, one American and one British, meet briefly when they are invited to meet Princess Elizabeth at a tea party at Cliveden.

By 1962, the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis, each is working as an adviser to Kruschev, Kennedy and Mountbatten respectively and we are see the crisis developing through their attendance at various meetings.

Meanwhile life goes on as before beyond the corridors of power, despite the ever increasing likelihood of nuclear war. A young acquaintance of Rupert Blundell (the British officer) has moved to London from sleepy Sussex in search of excitement and love, and possibly to enroll on a course at Art college. Eighteen year-old Pamela Avenell meets Stephen Ward and through hime she is introduced to Christine Keeler, Mandy Rice-Davies and also the Russian spy Ivanov.

The novel is a follow up to Motherland and continues the story of some of the characters from that book. There is also a tie-in with his previous trilogy of books set in Lewes, Sussex. I'm quite a fan of Nicholson's books and enjoyed this look at the lives of the upper middle class in the early sixties. I didn't know much about the missile crisis before, scarey stuff.

I thought that Pamela Avenell was a manipulative spoilt brat, but wil look forward to the next novel which will return to the modern day and feature her granddaughter Alice Dickinson.

[Romily · Rating 3 out of 5]

What makes this novel interesting is the way the period of fear and uncertainty surrounding the Cuban missile crisis is interwoven into the lives of the main characters. Despite the appearance of many actual historical figures such as Mountbatten, Krushchev - and even the seedy group made notorious by the Profumo affair, the novel succeeds in making the reader care about the fictional ones. The novel begins in 1943 with a meeting at Clivedon of three young men - British, American and Russian - with the young Princess Elizabeth. All three have low profile political or military roles, but have the ear of people in power. Encouraged by the words of the princess they make a pact between them that there will be no more wars. Ahead lie the horrors of Hiroshima, the cold war and the growing nuclear threat, but each in their own way helps to steer their political masters towards reconciliation. Alongside this are several romantic plots, which occasionally lose credibility. Young Pamela's introduction into the milieu of Stephen Ward and his cronies, seems gratuitous and smacks of a bit of male fantasy. Mary, the Irish girl who has found herself sanctified and "imprisoned" by her local community for some childish visions, is however a real original.

[Penney Cameron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nicholson writes well and this is good yarn, I just didn't like his protagonists.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite a large book with lots of names. Sounds silly, but offputting at first as it was easy to get lost in the midst of who all the characters were. Ended up being some interesting character-stories all set against the background of the Cuban missile crisis, peppered with other real historical figures. It was an interesting book, particularly as the cold war was something that we never learned about at school (history stopping in about 1948, barring a brief primary 5 flurry into swinging 60s and 70s fashion and music). Worth a read for that alone, and in general it's not a bad story either.

[Sarah Harkness · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fantastic novel in the series by Mr Nicholson! I am so fascinated by these families and the way he carefully blends their stories into real life events is magical was it pushing it a bit to imagine dialogue in the Kennedy White House? seemed ok to me! and the Irish village scene was really touching. Keep them coming!

[Nigel · Rating 4 out of 5]

William Nicholson is a consummate storyteller. Here he develops an engrossing story arc for some minor characters from his earlier work, Motherland, mixing fact and fiction as before throwing in the Cuban Missile Crisis and the stirrings of swinging London along with miraculous visions and some warm-hearted family drama.

[Jane Gregg · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel is loosely connected to the All the Hopeful Lovers series - which I have been loving these past weeks. Set in London with the Bay of Pigs as a sort of context, I found it a touch too unwieldy with several plot lines and multiple characters providing just a bit too much clutter to truly have propulsion and purpose. Nonetheless, it was enjoyable and captivating.

[Isaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

big big fan of william nicholson ,one small criticism could have cut out the chapters with kennedy,khrushchev etc in them, more novel less historical.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was hard to get into at first but then I very much enjoyed it.

[Wilde Sky · Rating 2 out of 5]

I couldn’t get into this book – the storyline / characters / writing weren’t strong enough.

[Caroline Berry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb! A slightly disjointed start as you get used to each interweaving character's story but it all knits together beautifully, intriguingly, philosophically and dramatically too! I loved it!