Five To One

by Chris Chalmers

A care assistant with a secret. A gardener with an eye for more than greenfly. An estate agent and an advertising man, each facing a relationship crisis. And a pilot with nowhere to land.

At twelve fifty-five on a sunny afternoon, five lives converge in a moment of terror as a helicopter crashes on Clapham Common. It’s a day that will change them all forever — and for some, will be their last.


Winner of the Wink Publishing Debut Novel Competition
Nominated for the Polari First Book Award

‘A funny, often painfully honest and moving story about the absurdity of modern life and the concerns that propel us. Chalmers writes with a sensitivity and wit that recalls Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City’ – Penny Hancock, bestselling author of Tideline

'A charming novel that’s cleverly structured and consistently engaging’ — Matt Cain, Editor-in-Chief, Attitude magazine

’A poignant study of genuine love in a big and fantastically diverse city’ – BytetheBook.com

314 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 23, 2012

About the author

Chris Chalmers arrived unexpectedly following a Beatles' concert at Southport Floral Hall when his mum was induced by the stomping. His career as a published author began aged six with a poem, Jumbo Jabber, in The Liverpool Echo. The editor, retitling it Elephants Are Our Favourites, gave him a taste of the collaborative process that was to play a major role in his subsequent career in advertising.

After many years and a few awards creating campaigns at top London agencies for everything from The Economist to ballet shoes, Chris took the plunge into the world of contemporary fiction. His first published novel, Five To One, is now available with further titles for adults and children to follow.

He lives in South-West London with his partner, a quite famous concert pianist. Chris was once the understudy on Mastermind, has travelled to 40 different countries, and swum with iguanas. He's written a diary for 42 years and never missed a night.

Reviews

[Susan Hampson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Firstly I love the cover of this book which you don’t quite get until you have read what is inside, or the title for that matter but now I do, all too clearly I do. The prologue is set in present day with a chain of events that have led up to this moment that put a group of people, who wouldn’t have met, together. That is apart from one of them because this spectacular entrance was intended as a publicity stunt to inflate numbers on a two-bit show. This was a quick in out illegal pick up by a helicopter on Clapham Common. They did get headlines, but not quite the ones they were after.
Once the scene is set the story drops back in time to the everyday lives of four characters, their families and friends. They all come from very different backgrounds, all of them at a crossroad in their lives for careers and relationships. The chapters dart from one indecisive person to another making excuses of life isn’t fair to being frightened to take a chance.
Out of all the characters in the story I really liked Tony who was taking timeout from his homeland of New Zealand to stay with a friend in London that he met while jet setting round the world for different work commitments. He is just so sweet, trusting and gullible.
There is plenty of humour in the writing from the hilarious scenes on a barge in the middle of Loch Ness, full of contestants taking part in a Big Brother type show, to a care home for the elderly. Each of the voices captured in the distinctive characters throughout the book making it easy reading. Time eventually caught up to the present day event on Clapham Common and continued a little further. I felt very involved in these people’s lives that changed because of one event, well not quite for them all …………..
A talented author that writes in many directions with each of his books.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book opens with a helicopter coming down to land on Clapham Common at five minutes to one on a sunny lunchtime. There are too many people around and the pilot realises he's got it wrong the moment the tail rotors clip trees just out of his sight. The story then introduces several sets of characters who are strangers to each other, but who are all connected by being on Clapham Common at five to one when the helicopter crashes. We delve into the lives of four sets of ordinary people who have extraordinary things happening in their lives which climax with the helicopter crash.

Chris Chalmers' writing is modern, engaging, flows well and he is a great observer of people. Humour, even at the darkest of times, is liberally scattered throughout the book – confident and sassy.

[Jackie Law · Rating 2 out of 5]

Five to One, by Chris Chalmers, tells the stories of five groups of people whose lives intersect when a helicopter crashes on Clapham Common in London. Due to the moving timelines and number of characters involved it took time to fully engage with the disparate plots. There is humour in the narrative despite the various difficulties the protagonists must navigate. This is a story of individuals and the challenges of living.

The prologue introduces the pilot as he flies east along the path of the Thames. A brief background is offered but little else is revealed. The remainder of the book is divided into five parts. These progress the tales being told of the remaining protagonists, just a few scenes each at a time.

Ian is a middle aged gardener who used to work in the city. Married to Carla, he embarks on an affair with Agnes, a young Polish nanny employed by a client. He tries to convince himself that he is doing nothing wrong for reasons that will become clear. Carla is seeking direction and ends up finding fame, if only for a day.

Glory works in a care home, a job she enjoys, unlike many of her colleagues. She lives with her self-absorbed sister, Mercy, and helps support her young nephew and neice. When one of the elderly residents at Glory’s workplace complains that a stranger is entering her room during the night the often confused old lady’s concerns are dismissed. Glory decides to investigate further, bringing down trouble on herself.

Tony has recently arrived in London from New Zealand. He is on sabbatical from both his job and relationship, neither of which he is convinced he wishes to continue. Asides about his increasing girth drive him to exercise on the common where he meets Shelley, a young woman who tells him she is seeking an opportunity to become pregnant. The encounter plants the seed of an idea in Tony’s head about fatherhood and the direction he now wishes his life to take.

Mari and Adam have also taken extended leave from their safe and sensible jobs. They have travelled to South America where they teach English as a foreign language in between exploring the region, especially the indigenous wildlife which Adam reveres. Their relationship appears solid if unexciting, but the cracks that exist become harder to ignore when marriage is proposed. Neither can be fully satisfied in quite the way the other thinks.

The plotlines and characters are appealing yet their potential is never fully realised. The writing flows but the continuous movement between arcs distracted from the empathy being built. I enjoyed the windows into ordinary lives, the self-inflicted difficulties and awkward attempts to extricate. Whilst the ideas and the writing were resourceful and assured, the story structure didn’t work for me.

My copy of this book was provided gratis by the author.

[Yvonne · Rating 5 out of 5]

The prologue for this book is set in the present when a helicopter crashes on Clapham Common. It is there to pick up someone as part of an ongoing publicity stunt when things go wrong. At five to one several strangers are caught up in some form at this crash. Why they were there on that day and at that time is what then follows as the story drops back in time.

First, I love the cover of this book, now as I look at it properly I can see how well it fits in relation to the story.

The author introduced me to a series of characters individually so there are quite a few names to remember, especially as also included are family and friends. As I got to learn about the people and their partners, family, friends I started to build up a recognition as their stories are told. I gradually started to empathise and care about the main characters, about how they lived and some of the things that happen in their everyday lives, their frustrations, anger, sometimes they feel helpless and out of the loop with decisions, or just plodding along in life as everyone else does. While this is about ordinary and everyday people, the author has managed to create characters with substance, at times I disagreed with some actions but could also understand the reasoning behind them.

This is one of those stories that is quiet and subtle as it explores human nature. It looks at various people with diverse lifestyles, with varied backgrounds. All the way through the story they have one thing in common; the crash, it is the way they are led to that time and date that is what this story is about. It is a story about people. What makes them tick. What their dreams are.

I absolutely fell in love with this story, from a slow start getting to know everyone, and then it just transformed. The author has captured the essence of his characters, given them a voice, and given them a chance to change.

This is a story I would absolutely recommend to readers of contemporary fiction and literary fiction. It was an absolute joy and pleasure to read xx

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

An ex-financier turned gardener tries to salvage his failing marriage, a care worker deals with her lazy sister and false accusations, an estate agent tries to convince herself that she truly loves her fiance and a visiting Kiwi tries to find purpose in his life: A charming and well observed portrait of human life in the bustling melting pot that is London, "Five to One" is a collection of four stories brought together by tragedy. Although written with a clear love for London, I actually found the chapters set in the breathtakingly beautiful Galapagos Islands refreshing and really wonderfully written. Chris Chalmers has a great ear for dialogue and his characters are well drawn, their flaws and all. This is a book about humanity, the people you see everyday. It's a book about the struggles people face and the strength required to overcome them, the stuff that makes ordinary people, extraordinary.

[Jeanette Ford · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book I’ve read by this author. I had no idea what to expect from the title but liked the blurb. It was entirely different to any other book I’ve read, I think. From a worrying beginning, which is actually near the end, it becomes the study of the lives of several people, two couples and two single people, all their stories diverse and unrelated, until they all come together in the one incident. This is a story that shows the author’s knowledge and understanding of human nature in all it’s guises, the tawdry to the beautiful, from the humour to sadness with all the other emotions in between. It is the story of how people can get caught into situations they never intended and didn’t look for and the ways they deal with them. Sometimes the results are surprising.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Susan fraser aberdeen

This is the first book I have read by this author and absolutely loved it .
What a page turner
Can’t wait to read more books by this author

[Idoru · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It's the story of five very different people whose lives are about to be turned upside down by a helicopter crash - the narrative follows each of them on their journey towards that fateful moment in south London's Clapham Common.

The language is pared down, spartan even. There are no florid descriptive passages, no big expositions. We learn only what we need to about each characters' background and motivations. Not a word is wasted. Some readers might find that frustrating; for me it was refreshing, appealing to my editor's brain. Yet the imagery is at times beautiful: Chelsea Embankment is "laid out like a picnic", the Thames is "murky satin" and the London Eye "a pram wheel against the blue".