Children
Penguin Classics
Spinebreakers
Five Dials
Penguin Dating
Blog
Podcast
Read an extract from: The Simple Rules of Love
» Click here to read an extract from The Simple Rules of Love
Synopsis
» Visit Amanda Brookfield's official website here
For some families, a year can feel like a lifetime…
The Harrisons are a large and extremely close-knit family. But with the grandchildren fast becoming adults and elderly Pamela struggling to adapt to widowhood and the emptiness of Ashley House, the four children of the middle generation find themselves equally lost in a changing world.
As preparations for 42 year-old Cassie's long-awaited wedding gather pace and an exotic family holiday is planned, sibling and marital bonds are stretched to breaking point: adultery, an unwanted pregnancy, shadows of past losses… suddenly a year of celebration threatens to become one of painful upheaval.
Beset by such emotional chaos, how can the adults hope to guide their children in matters of the heart? Or are the children the ones who should be guiding them?
A multi-generational story of love, lies and family ties, The Simple Rules of Love presents Amanda Brookfield at her perceptive and poignant best.
Reviews
Customer Review: 04 March 2009
Reviewer: Chaitanya
'Good to read'
» Submit a review
Customer Review: 18 October 2006
Customer Review: 07 June 2006Critic Review:
On The Simple Rules of Love:
'It's brilliant - read it!'
Closer
‘Step aside Jilly Cooper, Penny Vincenzi and Joanna Trollope, there is a new kid on the block. Surely it’s time Amanda Brookfield gained her rightful place with this brilliantly observed epic surrounding the further fortunes and misfortunes of the extended Harrison family’
Henry Sutton, Daily Mirror
On Amanda’s writing:
‘Brookfield skilfully illuminates the relationships, dilemmas and compromises that define so many lives’
Sunday Express
‘A strong sense of humour, a natural narrative gift’
Evening Standard
‘Brookfield goes from strength to strength. Treat yourself’
Patricia Scanlan
On Relative Love:
‘Another heart-rending exploration of the lasting legacy of childhood from the best-selling author’
Daily Mirror
‘This book, about deep and complex family love from this accomplished author, is told with true passion’
Family Circle
On Sisters & Husbands:
‘Brookfield skilfully illuminates the relationships, dilemmas and compromises that define so many lives’
Sunday Express
‘Few contemporary British novelists writing today explore the messy tangles of close human relationships with quite such warm perceptiveness as Brookfield’
Daily Mirror
On A Family Man:
‘This book is charming and enjoyable, and Matthew is completely gorgeous, if a little misguided’
Best
‘This is a funny, poignant and relevant novel – superb in detail that will be familiar to many’
Essex Chronicle
On The Lover:
‘A truthful look at how people’s lives are shaped by the attitudes and expectations of other’
Coventry Telegraph
‘Amanda Brookfield’s writing never fails to please’
Devon Life
‘I was a Brookfield virgin but after this I’ll certainly be seeking out more’
Northern Echo
On Single Lives:
‘Witty and engaging’
Family Circle
On The Godmother:
‘Take this book on holiday with you – it’s a wonderful beach read with a happy, if rather unexpected, ending’
Options
On A Cast of Smiles:
‘What is refreshing here is the author’s conspicuous sanity and her sharp line in defence of reason’
Guardian
‘Amanda Brookfield’s voice is young and clear’
Observer
On Alice Alone:
‘Even unshowy writing and a confident narrative voice’
Daily Telegraph
‘Amanda Brookfield’s assurance and intelligence make Alice Alone stand out from the flush of the new year’s fiction’
Evening Standard
‘Penetrating insights into the ordinary female condition’
Woman’s Own
‘The story rings true, and the writer deals with a potentially tedious subject in a fresh, amusing way’
Washington Times
On Walls of Glass:
‘The story is told in pithy scenes using excellent dialogue and it is notable that having dared to breath life in to a set of stereotypes, Ms Brookfield succeeds in undermining her conventional ending’
Sunday Telegraph
More
A LETTER FROM AMANDA
Dear Reader,
Thank you for your interest in my new novel.
The Simple Rules of Love is in no way a sequel, but it does pick up on characters I've written about before. The novel follows a year in the life of the Harrison family. I tried initially to concentrate on just a few of the characters (with grannies and middle-aged parents and children, there are so many of them!) but I quickly realised that with such a strong close-knit family it would be impossible and unsatisfying to leave anybody out! I was aware too, that, as in real life, there are different phases relating to one’s age and preoccupations and so everybody had a new and interesting story for me to tell.
A novelist, like a parent, shouldn’t have favourites… but that said, I was always particularly fond of Roland, the sensitive product of a broken marriage, with strong artistic abilities and an emotional intelligence way beyond his years. I loved being able to show him move towards adulthood, struggling with his awakening sexuality and the demands of a needy mother with huge deficiencies in her own personal life.
Several people have asked me about the title… why I chose it and what it’s supposed to mean. The answer, for anyone interested, is that it arose from the realisation, acquired during the course of three years immersion in the numerous interrelations of the Harrison clan (siblings, parents, spouses, lovers and friends), that while human love takes countless forms its abiding principles are basic and constant.
I would love to hear how readers, both new to and familiar with the Harrison family, feel about The Simple Rules of Love. Writing is an isolated process and so any feedback I get is hugely appreciated. Like this letter to you, it is also a chance for both sides to enjoy that very special, invisible connection between an author and the people who enter the world he or she creates. I hope above all that The Simple Rules of Love comes across as a real world, full of the humdrum, desperate, complicated and rewarding emotions familiar to each and every one of us.
I am working on a very different story now, about a divorcee with a gaggle of female friends and a difficult eleven year old – not a Harrison in sight! I miss them, but am ready now to leave their fates in the capable hands of your imaginations. I have a heroine for my new novel but no satisfactory name as yet… any ideas?
With best wishes,
Amanda
Product details
Format : Paperback
ISBN: 9780141021829
Size : 129 x 198mm
Pages : 608
Published : 04 May 2006
Publisher : Penguin
Other formats for The Simple Rules of Love:
» ePub eBook: eBook : £7.00
The Simple Rules of Love
£6.99
Related email updates
To keep up-to-date, input your email address, and we will contact you on publication or when the author releases another book.
Please alert me via email when:
