Motherland

December 10, 2012
Screenwriter Nicholson returns to the novel with a WWII love story that evolves into a study of postwar marital malaise, culminating in a bittersweet resolution. Marine commando Ed Avenell and liaison officer Larry Cornford, friends stationed in Sussex in 1942, both fall for army driver Kitty Teale. Choosing charm over humility, Kitty marries Ed just before the men head to France, where Ed is taken prisoner—earning him a Victoria Cross—while Larry, showing less bravura, returns safely to visit Kitty and baby daughter Pamela. At war’s end Ed returns a troubled man, struggling with inner demons as Kitty and Larry bond. Neither Larry’s affair with an artists’ model, his stint with Mountbatten in India, or his own dysfunctional marriage disrupts their friendship. Years pass before a sentimental journey to where it all began clarifies past mistakes and offers some a second chance. Pamela (mother of Guy Caulder and grandmother of Alice Dickinson from The Secret Intensity of Everyday Life) narrates from the present, forming the framework in which Nicholson develops his complex characters. Depictions of postwar France, pre-independence India, and battlefield chaos add scope to Nicholson’s ruminations on love, faith, decency, the choices ordinary people make, and how they cope with the consequences. Agent: Clare Alexander, Aitken Alexander Associates.

February 1, 2013
A wartime love story in the tradition of Atonement--and perhaps The Winds of War, and perhaps Gone with the Wind.... The opening pages of screenwriter (Gladiator, Shadowlands) and novelist (I Could Love You, 2011, etc.) Nicholson's modestly pitched saga frame the problem beautifully: A granddaughter does not know her grandmother, just as her mother does not know her own grandmother--and the members of the Greatest Generation, whose story this is, scarcely know themselves. In the early years of World War II, Kitty Teale, who simply adores driving, rushes off to volunteer for service as an ambulance driver. She is class conscious, but less so than her hoity-toity pal Louisa, who grumbles assonantly, "I don't mind being bossed about by lesbians in trilbies...so long as they're my own class." Class enters into things when those wary winds buffet Kitty into the arms of Royal Marine commando Ed--though, to complicate matters, fellow warrior Larry, no slouch himself, emerges as a good candidate for a spirited snogging. What's a girl to do? Well, when Ed returns from the front a much decorated hero, the decision seems fixed--save that, in postwar India (one wants to pronounce it In-juh, of course), and in a milieu where Ed is hell-bent on drinking his memories of battle away, Larry's still ripe to enact his realization that "time is so short, death comes so soon....We must love each other." Or, to echo Auden, die--and there's some of that, too. The best moments of this well-written if predictable story come when Ed and Larry are interacting: Their relationship is fraught, intimate, wary ("Time to beat a retreat," says Ed, meaningfully. "Back to the boats and sail away.") and affecting. The rest of the story is well-told, though we've seen most of it before: Just add gin to your favorite wartime romance and stir.

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November 15, 2012

Buddies Ed and Larry both love Kitty, but she chooses to marry hunky World War II hero Ed. Bad choice, but when Kitty tries to correct her mistake, the result is tragedy. Nicholson received Academy Award nominations for his Shadowlands and Gladiator screenplays, so one might reasonably expect fresh, fired-up writing.

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2013
Nicholson is an acclaimed British novelist, television writer, and playwright, but he is best known as the Oscar-nominated screenwriter of Gladiator and Shadowlands. He is currently enjoying success in movie theaters with his adaptation of the hit musical Les Mis'rables. His latest novel is a sweeping historical epic built around a love triangle that blossoms (and occasionally wilts) against the backdrop of pre- and post-WWII. A modern-day framing device, involving a young woman meeting her enchanting grandmother for the first time, is cinematic without relying on clich'd bombast to draw readers into the enjoyably familiar yet very well-written story. Go big or go home is Nicholson's forte, and he won't disappoint fans of classic Hollywood-style storytelling that grapples with life's big-ticket issues (Faith! Duty! Honor!). The book's marketing tagline (sometimes heroes don't make the best husbands) practically guarantees a future film version. Yet, it's the book's quieter moments, infused with realistic dialogue and fastidious attention to historical detail, that will make true romantics swoon and should win over a wide mainstream audience.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)