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Five Days cover art

Five Days

By: Douglas Kennedy
Narrated by: Jennifer Woodward
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Summary

From the Sunday Times best-selling 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 20 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.

©2013 Douglas Kennedy (P)2013 Isis Publishing Ltd, Random House Audiobooks 2013
Contemporary Fiction
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Critic reviews

"Totally, blissfully absorbing.” ( The Times)
“Kennedy can effortlessly inhabit the voice of the female narrator, and Laura’s dilemma will leave you absolutely gripped to the final page.” ( The Sunday Mirror)
“As always with Douglas Kennedy, what follows is a gripping emotional rollercoaster; pressing so many buttons it’s likely to have readers examining their own what-might-have-beens.” ( Daily Mail)
“As always with Douglas Kennedy, what follows is a gripping emotional rollercoaster; pressing so many buttons it’s likely to have readers examining their own what-might-have-beens.” ( Daily Mail)
“When an unhappily married woman meets an unhappily married man in a hotel lobby, you can probably guess where the story is heading. It is a tribute to Kennedy’s skill that he can take such a hackneyed situation and make the protagonists richly three-dimensional… As love fizzles out, Kennedy finds something redemptive in the triumph of hope over experience.” ( Daily Mail)
"Brief Encounter gets a radical makeover in this subtly thrilling novel." ( Mail on Sunday)
"Kennedy is a writer who likes to grapple with the ‘big stuff’ that crops up in ordinary lives… A novel that combines voyeuristic fantasy with a good helping of philosophical ponderings." ( The Lady)
"A compelling story of love, family, regret and fidelity." ( Baby & Me)
"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)

What listeners say about Five Days

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Not my favourite of Kennedy's novels

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Five days...it felt like much longer! I was sort of pleased for the happy ending but almost past caring since the pace of the story was so slow.

Would you be willing to try another book from Douglas Kennedy? Why or why not?

Yes, because I've read them all so far.

What does Jennifer Woodward bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

A greater sense of the main character's bewilderment.

Do you think Five Days needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

No, it's sufficient by itself.

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