The Confessions of Edward Day

Paperback / ISBN-13: 9780753823217

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‘There are shades of Highsmith here, and Wilde’s Dorian Gray. This novel is marvellous and unmissable’ THE TIMES

Valerie Martin is a goddess. Her prose is so sharp, intense and wickedly witty, you’ll whip through this story like lightning… Glamour, intrigue and passions run high in this scintillating novel’ EASY LIVING

‘Martin draws us skilfully and boldly into a world in which near drownings, lost loves, stalkers and the loaded gun which must finally go off, are not nearly as terrifying as the unknowability of the human psyche’ DAILY TELEGRAPH

In the seamy theatre world of 1970s New York, where rents are cheap and love is free, aspiring actor Edward Day joins his friends for a summer weekend on the New Jersey Shore. But something happens – and Edward’s life will never be the same again. He is saved from drowning by the mysterious Guy Margate, a man with whom he shares both a marked physical resemblance and an implacable attraction to the beautiful, talented, neurotic Madeleine. Ever after, in encounters provoked by envy and resentment, Edward is torn between his desire for Madeleine and his indebtedness to the querulous Guy.

Professional and personal jealousies come to a head when Edward is cast opposite Madeleine in an acclaimed production of Uncle Vanya, their respective roles painfully mirroring the reality of their personal situations. As the sexual tensions of the play spill over outside the theatre walls, Guy – Edward’s reluctant saviour and now Madeleine’s husband – makes the ultimate act of protest…

Reviews

Engrossing... The best thing about Martin's novel is its portrait of a live of an actor...a wonderful evocation...It is a testament to the author's skill that Edward's shortcomings only serve to make the book more enjoyable
SUNDAY TIMES
Actors will always be fascinating creatures to us mortals, but this hugely enjoyable novel repays that fascination with interest
INDEPENDENT
A deliciously creepy tale of clashing egos and unspoken desires, Valerie Martin's novel about aspiring actor Edward Day...is irresistible
INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY
A fictional memoir set amid the bohemian squalor of New York's theatre world in the 1970s, when rents were cheap, love was free and actors willingly worked for nothing... what better place for gossip to thrive
THE HERALD
Martin evokes the competitive world of Broadway hopefuls with caustic panache
INDEPENDENT
'Martin evokes the competitive world of Broadway hopefuls with caustic panache.'
Emma Hagestadt, INDEPENDENT
Valerie Martin is a goddess. Her prose is so sharp, intense and wickedly witty, you'll whip through this story like lightning... Glamour, intrigue and passions run high in this scintillating novel
EASY LIVING
Martin draws us skilfully and boldly into a world in which near drownings, lost loves, stalkers and the loaded gun which must finally go off, are not nearly as terrifying as the unknowability of the human psyche
DAILY TELEGRAPH
A deliciously creepy tale of clashing egos and unspoken desires, Valerie Martin's novel about aspiring actor Edward Day...is irresistible.
Lesley McDowell, INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY
Valerie Martin never repeats herself. After a memorable novel about Victorian London (Mary Reilly) and the best book there is about slavery (Property), she has now recreated in stunning detail a recent decade that feels as glamorous and remote as the 1890s or the 1920s
Edmund White
There are shades of Highsmith here, and Wilde's Dorian Gray. This novel is marvellous and unmissable
Kate Saunders, THE TIMES
Mischievous, observant and often surprisingly moving... a wonderfully entertaining story
YORKSHIRE POST
One of the best I've ever read about the actor's psyche
SCOTSMAN
An icy psychosexual thriller that relies on easy jokes about thesps and arty types but it would be a shame if the novel's craft were doubted. The text knowingly embodies its themes, performance , rehearsing, riffing, interpreting, as an actor interprets a script. And thanks to the deadpan narration, the jokes are fun
TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT