Synopsis
Funny, poignant and entirely original, this is the stunning new novel by the author Goodnight Steve Mcqueen. Have you ever wished you could walk away from it all? Not for a day, not for a week, but for good. Claire's older brother, Daniel, has disappeared. He leaves work one Friday afternoon, shortly before Christmas, and vanishes into thin air. Married, successful, rich, there seems no reason why he would abandon his life. Has he been killed? Has he been kidnapped? Or has he just had enough? Set between London and Miami, this is the story of a family with ghosts to bury. It opens on the day of the Challenger shuttle explosion at Cape Canaveral; a tragic moment that rips this family apart and sets Daniel's disappearance in motion some 18 years later. In the midst of it all sits Claire - promiscuous, divorced, irresponsible; fluent in six foreign languages, yet hopeless at interpreting life. It is Claire that knows Daniel best. It is Claire who becomes convinced that she knows where her older brother is and sets off on a journey to find him. Part mystery, part love story, part comic road trip, this is the story of a woman unravelling her family's secrets and healing their wounds, while finding a route to real love.

News Tue, 20 Mar 2007 10:41:37 CST Vu

Sex’n’drugs and a new typewriter
March 17, 2007

1996 WAS LOUISE WENER’S year. As the lead singer of the indie band Sleeper, she had two Top Ten hits, one of which — the spiky Sale of the Century— became a Britpop anthem. Sleeper’s second album, The It Girl, went platinum. When they supported R.E.M at the Milton Keynes Bowl on the evening she turned 29, Michael Stipe and 70,000 fans sang happy birthday. And if that wasn’t enough, she was voted 37th sexiest woman in the world by FHM — above Claudia Schiffer and Sharon Stone.

(excerpt)

She is now working on her fourth novel, featuring a female explorer in the 1930s. Wener (who “doesn’t get” marriage) still lives with Andy, and together they have formed Huge Advance with the music journalist John Harris (guitar) and a Faber editor, Hannah Griffiths (bass). They play purely “for the hell of it” at fringe literary festivals such as Port Eliot. Although she has no desire to relive her glory days, she sometimes wonders what would have happened if Sleeper hadn’t made it — like Claire in The Half Life of Stars, she is acutely aware that “a simple twist of fate” can shape a life.

THE HALF LIFE OF STARS (Mar 2006)

The Half Life of Stars
Louise Wener
List Price: £12.99

Edition: Paperback

Product Details:
• Paperback 416 pages (March 27, 2006)
• Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0340832452

Synopsis
Funny, poignant and entirely original, this is the stunning new novel by the author Goodnight Steve Mcqueen. Have you ever wished you could walk away from it all? Not for a day, not for a week, but for good. Claire's older brother, Daniel, has disappeared. He leaves work one Friday afternoon, shortly before Christmas, and vanishes into thin air. Married, successful, rich, there seems no reason why he would abandon his life. Has he been killed? Has he been kidnapped? Or has he just had enough? Set between London and Miami, this is the story of a family with ghosts to bury. It opens on the day of the Challenger shuttle explosion at Cape Canaveral; a tragic moment that rips this family apart and sets Daniel's disappearance in motion some 18 years later. In the midst of it all sits Claire - promiscuous, divorced, irresponsible; fluent in six foreign languages, yet hopeless at interpreting life. It is Claire that knows Daniel best. It is Claire who becomes convinced that she knows where her older brother is and sets off on a journey to find him. Part mystery, part love story, part comic road trip, this is the story of a woman unravelling her family's secrets and healing their wounds, while finding a route to real love.