A Long Way Down, Nick Hornby

A Long Way Down - Nick Hornby, Viking, 272 pages (May 5, 2005). ISBN:0670888249

Title & Author:	A Long Way Down Nick Hornby
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"The protagonists attempt to help each other, grandly messing it up, but each reaches a fumbling form of resolution. There is a transcendent ending that entirely avoids mawkishness or touchy-feely epiphany, but convinces and inspires instead." - Joanna Briscoe, the Guardian.

"Imagine a Robert Kilroy-Silk/Richard Madeley hybrid teaming up with a Rod Stewart-coiffured musician, a sheltered middle-aged mum and a reckless drug-fuelled teenage girl with a talent for shooting her mouth off and you've got some idea of the extraordinary chemistry at work ... That's where this story takes place: in a kind of hopeful purgatory, where people have decided they don't want to die but aren't yet sure how to live." - Alastair Mabbott, The Herald

In A Long Way Down, Nick Hornby introduces a dowdy middle-aged woman (Maureen), a crazed adolescent (Jess), a disgraced breakfast TV presenter (Martin) and a failed American rock star (JJ) to each other on New Years Eve at the top of Toppers' House, a well known suicide spot.

In meeting, they decide not to top themselves, and with his usual brand of funny, sad, and humane humour Nick Hornby relates what happens to them next. This novel asks some of the big questions: about life and death, strangers and friendship, love and pain, and what might get you through the long, dark night of the soul.

In taking their painful steps away from Topper house this "famous four" encounter tabloid fame, an ill-fated group vacation to the Canary Islands, and a book group for writers who have killed themselves. In these, and quieter moments, they find ways to avoid the trip back to Topper house.

• A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby is likely to amuse and inspire rather than make you want to top yourself.