Thin Air

by Sue Gee

William Harriman, a retired civil servant, is a cultivated and kindly person in his late seventies, who has lost the two people most dear to him: his wife, Eve, now dead, and his son, Matthew, who is mentally unstable following an earlier breakdown. Even his relationship with his daughter Claire is not a good one. William's one joy in life is running an antique stall with Buffy Henderson, an old friend of Eve's. His other relations, however, are very different. They inhabit the Dog Museum in Shropshire - a decaying family home in whose grounds they house vast numbers of stray dogs and dog memorabilia. Linking these two worlds - the one urbane, settled, shot with loneliness, the other distinctly cracked - is Janice Harper who, restless with country life and walking dogs for the Harrimans, comes to London for some excitement...

Genres: Fiction

352 pages, Paperback

First published October 7, 2002

About the author

Sue Gee was born in India, where her father was an Army officer. She had a her elder brother, Robert, now a retired radiographer living in Spain. She grew up on a Devon farm, and in a village in Leicestershire, before instaled in Surrey in 1960. She lived in north London for 27 years with the journalist Marek Mayer, they had a son, Jamie. She married Mayer in November 2003, less of two years before his death on 23th July 2005. Now, she lived in the town of Hay-on-Wye in the Welsh borders.

Published since 1980, her novel Letters From Prague, was serialised on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour and Her play, Ancient and Modern, was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2004, with Juliet Stevenson in the lead role. Her novel The Hours of the Night which received wide critical acclaim and was the controversial winner of the 1997 Romantic Novel of the Year Award, an award she won again in 2004 by her novel Thin Air.

She was Programme Leader for the MA Writing programme at Middlesex University from 2000 to 2008. She is currently reading for a PhD in Creative and Critical Writing at the University of East Anglia. She has been awarded a Royal Literary Fund Fellowship.

Reviews

[Jackie]

First book I’ve read by this author. I really enjoyed the way she writes, it’s simple but very effective. Her characters are great. I particularly liked William & Buddy. I was shocked by the backstory of Matthew & Claire and thought I’d misunderstood something somewhere! The ending seemed a bit rushed.

[Julie B]

My second book by Sue Gee - having gained a few from a neighbour. I preferred this one and just really liked her writing style and characterisation. Anne Tyler-esque

[Sharon March]

Again loved this book by Sue Gee. She writes beautifully of the countryside, music and most of all people. Set in Shropshire and London this is a book to read listening to some of the music mentioned in the book.

[Joy Fleet-Thompson]

Beautifully written narrative. The characterisation was good. Liked the London setting. Themed of grief and loneliness. Happy ending mostly believable.

[Deborah Tupou]

OH THE PLOT TWIST!!! OHHHH THE PLOT TWIST!

[Lesley]

Loved this book. Sue Gee is brilliant

[Judith Scollard]

A glorious read. Gentle, poetic, heart-warming. She writes stories which read like poetry. I love her writing.

[Adri]

Very well written. Interesting character studies.

[Avril Caryer]

Nearly all the way through this book I thought I was going to give this book 5 stars but, sadly, I was disappointed with the ending. It seemed rather rushed and unlikely.

[Martinxo]

I didn't enjoy this as much as the other two of her books I've read but it's still a good read.