Product Description

A book about growing up and being young, about sex and love and rock and roll, about the dreams of youth colliding head-on with the grown-up world. Sometimes you can grow up in just one night! It is 16th August 1977 -- the day that Elvis dies -- and Terry is back from Berlin, basking in the light of his friendship with legendary rock star Dag Wood. But when Dag arrives in London he sets his sights on a mysterious young photographer called Misty, the girl that Terry loves. Will the love of Terry's life survive this hot summer's night? Ray is the only writer on the inky music weekly The Paper who refuses to cut his hair and stop wearing flares. On the eve of being sacked, Ray finds comfort in the arms of an older woman called Mrs Brown. But John Lennon is in town for just one night and Ray believes that if he can interview the reclusive Beatle, he can save his job. Can John Lennon and the love of an older woman really save a young man's soul? Leon is on the run from a gang called the Dagenham Dogs who have taken exception to one of his bitchy reviews. Hiding out in a disco called The Goldmine, Leon meets Ruby -- the dancing queen of his dreams.But will true love or the Dagenham Dogs find Leon before the night is over? Tony Parsons goes back to his roots for this deeply personal book -- the story he has been waiting to tell.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #63752 in Books
• Published on: 2006-05-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

Review
Acclaim for for Tony Parsons: 'Funny, serious, tender and honest!Tony Parsons is writing about the genuine dilemmas of modern life' Sunday Express 'He takes as his specialist subject contemporary emotional issues which almost every other male writer has ignored' Guardian 'Memorable and poignant -- nobody squeezes more genuine emotion from a scene than Tony Parsons' Spectator

From the Publisher
STORIES WE COULD TELL is a book about growing up and being young, about sex and love and rock and roll, about the dreams of youth colliding head-on with the grown-up world. Tony Parsons goes back to his roots for this deeply personal book - the story he has been waiting to tell.

About the Author
Tony Parsons is the author of Man and Boy , published in 36 countries and winner of the UK's Book of the Year Award. He is also the author of One For My Baby, Man and Wife, The Family Way, Stories We Could Tell and My Favourite Wife, which were all international bestsellers. He began his career on the NME and is currently a columnist on the Daily Mirror and GQ, and a regular guest on BBC TV's Newsnight Review. He lives in London with his wife and daughter.

Customer Reviews

Some stories should not be told
Like many other reviewers, I have read Tony Parsons other books - so picked this up thinking I was getting the same.

I was wrong.

This book (and I really struggled to finish it, but hate not finishing books) comes across as a book that was merely written to satisfy the author's need to tell the story, but should have actually been kept personal, maybe amongst the friends that he was obviously writing about as well as himself.

This was a personal tale and as such should have been kept as that - personal.

A plus point, it was cleverely written to span one set time period, just over 24 hours, and all the characters intertwined fairly easily.

Maybe it was the era (1977 being the year I was born), maybe it was incessant drug use, the language - but something did not sit right with me and this book.

Where's The Funny Bit?
I will agree with the various other reviewers here who have expressed disappointment in the change of style from other books by Tony Parsons, but my main comment would be, that in several of the comments printed on the cover taken from professional reviews (e.g. the Irish Independent) the word "funny" appears, and I am now on page 191 and I haven't laughed yet.

Yes, it is a great nostalgic story, and takes me back to being 14 but enables me to see that period through the eyes of someone 10 years older, but it's Not Funny.

A Rare Nostalgic Novel
Very different to his previous novels, but strangely captivating. Perhaps a little difficult to get into at first, mainly because you realise it's poles apart from his usual style, but once you get over that it's a wonderful read. Largely based on the music scene of the 70s and the politics involved with that, you would do well to read it if this interests you. I loved this read, but wouldn't necessarily reccomend it to all of my friends as not all of them would appreciate the subject matter and may find this puts them off.