Completion
Published on 2. October 2014
Book
Paperback/Softback
368 pages
978-0-09-955917-7 (ISBN)
Description
A sharp, perceptive and painfully funny book about money, love and the sorrows and joys of modern family life.
MEET THE MANVILLES.
JERRY, a former award-winning adman who's beginning to leave a trail of ex-wives and semi-estranged children.
PEN, his artist ex-wife, who's a lot more in love with her new garden in the South of France than with her new husband.
ISOBEL, their daughter, trapped in air-conditioned Dubai, too busy managing her online farm to raise her own children.
CONRAD, her brother, who tends to his bicycles and his latest crush from a grotty flat-share in East London.
The House on the Hill was once their happy family home, regularly featured in the newspaper lifestyle sections and in Pen's popular children's books. But the house has fallen out of use, and so has the family. When Pen decides it's finally time to sell, Jerry discovers some unexpected new occupants who aren't so eager to move on. Soon the Manvilles - each of them funny, flawed and sporadically lovable - will have to say goodbye to The House on the Hill.
MEET THE MANVILLES.
JERRY, a former award-winning adman who's beginning to leave a trail of ex-wives and semi-estranged children.
PEN, his artist ex-wife, who's a lot more in love with her new garden in the South of France than with her new husband.
ISOBEL, their daughter, trapped in air-conditioned Dubai, too busy managing her online farm to raise her own children.
CONRAD, her brother, who tends to his bicycles and his latest crush from a grotty flat-share in East London.
The House on the Hill was once their happy family home, regularly featured in the newspaper lifestyle sections and in Pen's popular children's books. But the house has fallen out of use, and so has the family. When Pen decides it's finally time to sell, Jerry discovers some unexpected new occupants who aren't so eager to move on. Soon the Manvilles - each of them funny, flawed and sporadically lovable - will have to say goodbye to The House on the Hill.
Reviews / Votes
A most impressive, assured and enjoyable debut. -- James Kidd * Independent * Very funny...Walker [has a] flair for scene-setting. * Guardian * [A] sharply written, shrewdly observed, satirically funny look at the middle-class obsession with property, the dream that has turned into a nightmare for a generation. * Herald * Completion is a witty, deftly-written portrait of a dysfunctional family in contemporary Britain. Revealing about the young: uncomfortably acute about their parents. * Spectator, Books of the Year * Clever idea: Tim Walker's adroit debut novel tells the story of a scattered London family through their relationship to their Highbury home. This is a story of the rampant property mania that dominates the national conversation and an acute satire on urban First World problems. It's wittily done...Walker imagines himself equally confidently into the minds of a rich retiree, an expat mum and a Shoreditch hipster...So timely...Walker's characters are fully fleshed...[and] there are lots of nice touches...This is a proper London novel, and properly good fun. * Evening Standard * Completion is an entertaining debut about the way the property obsession has blinded many to the real value of people and families. * Independent on Sunday * Completion threads satire through a territory every bit as cut-throat as the pioneers' Wild West: the property market in contemporary London...Completion is lively and often hilarious...beautifully tart prose offers something to admire throughout. * Literary Review * Tim Walker's debut novel brims with wit and rich characterisation. It casts a sardonic gaze on hipster subculture, political idealism and our property-obsessed society...The four main plot strands are handled with skill...Completion is a warm and invigorating read, and highly recommended. * The List * Walker's amusing first novel follows the quirky and engaging family on their lives away from home over 30 years...an enjoyable romp. * Daily Mail * [A] deliciously funny novel...Walker's clever observations on materialism, parenting, love, friendship and even internet dating are piercingly accurate, but served up with a generous dollop of humour...Fluidly written, with plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, this debut from Walker is guaranteed to leave readers wanting more. * Press Association syndicated review *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Cornerstone
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 129 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
255 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-09-955917-7 (9780099559177)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Tim Walker was born in Surrey in 1980. He spent four years in California as the Los Angeles correspondent for the Independent. He lives in London with his family.