Product Description

Dan Silas returns to America for his high school reunion where he makes some unexpected discoveries. His former girlfriend tells him that her daughter was his child and Dan’s oldest friend has suffered a breakdown and now believes himself to be the reincarnation of an Indian chief. In an attempt to make sense of these disturbing facts, Dan digs further into their lives, with both tragic and comic results.
LEADING THE CHEERS is a rich portrayal of small-town life with wonderfully evoked characters and
Justin Cartwright’s beautifully observed writing.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #186848 in Books
• Published on: 1999-05-20
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
The impact a return to the past can have on the present is the theme of this delicately crafted novel by Whitbread winner and Booker nominee Justin Cartwright. Dan Silas, who has been living in his native England for the last 27 years returns to the American town where he grew up for his high school reunion. The place resonates with poignant reminders of his teenage years, not least his deeply cherished memories of Gloria, his childhood sweetheart. But a journey back cannot fail to disrupt one's perceptions of one's past, and Dan discovers that not only are his memories of his relationship with Gloria a false recording of reality but that she gave birth to their daughter soon after he left America. That daughter, of whom he never knew, is now dead, killed by a serial killer a few years previously. Furthermore, his oldest friend Gary has suffered a breakdown and now believes himself to be the brother of a dead Indian chief. Dan tries to resolve his sense of helplessness in the face of a present and a past that no longer make sense by visiting his daughter's killer in prison and by retrieving some "stolen" Indian artefacts from a museum for Gary. Cartwright explores well the dislocation Dan experiences as a consequence of this sudden radical corruption of his life and the way his necessary readjustment throws his present life into sharper focus. At times the novel suffers from a sugary American pathos that is a little cloying, and some incidents, Gary's illness for example, are treated with frustrating simplicity. Despite this, the novel is a haunting examination of the fragile relationship between experience and identity. --Perry Chaser

Amazon.co.uk Review
The impact a return to the past can have on the present is the theme of this delicately crafted novel by Whitbread winner and Booker nominee Justin Cartwright. Dan Silas, who has been living in his native England for the last 27 years returns to the American town where he grew up for his High School reunion. The place resonates with poignant reminders of his teenage years, not least his deeply cherished memories of Gloria, his childhood sweetheart. But a journey back cannot fail to disrupt one's perceptions of one's past, and Dan discovers that not only are his memories of his relationship with Gloria a false recording of reality but that she gave birth to their daughter soon after he left America. That daughter, of whom he never knew, is now dead, killed by a serial killer a few years previously. Furthermore, his oldest friend Gary has suffered a breakdown and now believes himself to be the brother of a dead Indian chief. Dan tries to resolve his sense of helplessness in the face of a present and a past that no longer make sense by visiting his daughter's killer in prison and by retrieving some "stolen" Indian artefacts from a musuem for Gary. Cartwright explores well the dislocation Dan experiences as a consequence of this sudden radical corruption of his life, and the way his necessary readjustment throws his present life into sharper focus. At times the novel suffers from a sugary American pathos that is a little cloying, and some incidents, Gary's illness for example, are treated with fustrating simplicity. Despite this, the novel is a haunting examination of the fragile relationship between experience and identity.

Mail on Sunday
‘This excellent new novel .... sharply written episodes abound’

Customer Reviews

Whitbread winning novel about Englishman's return to US
Leading the Cheers, winner of the Whitbread Novel of the Year award earlier this year, tells the story of a man called Dan Silas who returns to his old high school in Michigan. There many surprises await him. One of his friends believes he is the reincarnation of a Native American chief and his cheerleader girlfriend says she has had a child by him. It was conceived in Thomas Jefferson's house on a school trip. This is warm but quite incisive portrait of small town America, and our relationship with America. Absolutely the best book of the year.Truly magical.

Wonderful book about memory and love and America.
This is the story of an Englishman who goes back to his high school reunion. It's funny, witty, profound and very original...One of the best reads I have had in years. END

Very disappointing
After reading the glowing reports of other reviewers, I feel I have to register my astonishment. This is not a great book. It's barely even a mediocre book. The story is full of sad and scarcely likable people - the 'hero' is full of his own self-importance and spends too much time in his hotel room with the porn channel. It's a book that makes you think that there are some things it's better not to go back to