Five Days

Five Days

Summary

From the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Pursuit of Happiness and The Moment comes a poignant and profound American love story.

How long does it take to fall in love?

For twenty years, Laura has been a good wife and a good mother. She's supported her husband through redundancy, she's worried about her son, she's encouraged her daughter.

She's stopped thinking about all the places she'd like to go and all the books she'd like to talk about.

She's not unhappy, exactly. She's not that self-indulgent. As anyone would tell you, Laura is wonderfully constant, caring, selfless. She's certainly an expert at putting on a brave face.

But a chance meeting in a hotel lobby - and the five days that follow - remind Laura of the young woman she used to be - and the woman she could have become.

Is it ever too late to have the life you wanted? Or do we owe it to ourselves to pursue the promise of happiness?

From 'the absolute master of love stories with heart-stopping twists' (The Times), Five Days is a compelling novel about how life can change with one brief encounter.

Reviews

  • This modern Brief Encounter asks what it is that stops most of us from instigating change. Throughout we are kept in exquisite suspense, waiting to see whether the beleaguered pair will seize their chance of happiness.
    Independent

About the author

Douglas Kennedy

Douglas Kennedy's previous fourteen novels include the critically acclaimed bestsellers The Big Picture, The Pursuit of Happiness, A Special Relationship and The Moment. He is also the author of three highly-praised travel books. The Big Picture was filmed with Romain Duris and Catherine Deneuve; The Woman in the Fifth with Ethan Hawke and Kristin Scott Thomas.

His work has been translated into twenty-two languages. In 2007 he was awarded the French decoration of Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, and in 2009 the inaugural Grand Prix de Figaro. Born in Manhattan in 1955, he has two children and currently divides his time between London, Paris, Berlin, Maine and New York.
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