The Hopeless Life Of Charlie Summers

Written by Paul Torday

Narrated by Simon J. Williamson

Hector Chetwode-Talbot, Eck to his friends, has left the army and is slightly at a loss as to what to do next, when he is approached by an old army pal, Bilbo Mountwilliam. Bilbo runs an investment fund company and business is booming. Bilbo persuades Eck to join the company as a 'greeter' for moneyed clients. All Eck has to do is supply the contacts with entertainment and large G&Ts and then the fund managers will do the rest.

Soon Eck is able to buy himself a luxury sports car and decadent flat. It is on a golfing trip to France that Eck first meets Charlie Summers, a fly-by-night entrepreneur whose latest scheme is to import Japanese dog food into the UK.

Soon Charlie lands on Eck's doorstep with his suitcase, intent on staying and relaunching his dog food business in the area. But with the financial crash looming, Eck begins to ask himself if they are so very different...

Read by Simon J. Williamson. Simon's roles on stage include Charlie Bell in FRED KARNO'S ARMY (Bristol Old Vic), Sagredo in Brecht's LIFE OF GALILEO (Young Vic) and Donalbain in MACBETH (Leicester Haymarket/The People Show). Series television includes THE BILL, CASUALTY, LONDON'S BURNING and WAITING FOR GOD. In film he played Max Rebo in RETURN OF THE JEDI, Ursol in Jim Henson's DARK CRYSTAL, and was a puppeteer in three MUPPET movies. Audiobook work includes the BROTHER CADFAEL series, Adam Hall's QUILLER BALALAIKA and James Fox's WHITE MISCHIEF.

(p) 2013 Orion Publishing Group

• Language: English
• Publisher: Orion
• Release date: Jul 25, 2013
• ISBN: 9781409149538

Paul Torday

Paul Torday burst on to the literary scene in 2007 with his first novel, SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN, an immediate international bestseller that has been translated into 28 languages and has been made into a film starring Ewan McGregor, Kristin Scott Thomas and Emily Blunt. His subsequent novels, THE IRRESISTIBLE INHERITANCE OF WILBERFORCE, THE GIRL ON THE LANDING, THE HOPELESS LIFE OF CHARLIE SUMMERS, MORE THAN YOU CAN SAY, THE LEGACY OF HARTLEPOOL HALL and LIGHT SHINING IN THE FOREST, were all published to great critical acclaim. He was married with two sons by a previous marriage, had two stepsons, and lived close to the River North Tyne. He died at home in December 2013.

Reviews for The Hopeless Life Of Charlie Summers

[eyejaybee · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the third novel, and fourth book, that I have read this year dealing with the global financial crisis (the others being [Capital] and [Whoops] by [[John Lanchester]] and [Other People's Money] by [[Justin Cartwright]]), and they have all been immensely enjoyable.
Torday brings the light touch that rendered his debut novel [Salmon Fishing In The Yemen] so engaging, though he deals with serious, often tragic issues. The novel is narrated by Hector "Eck" Chetwode-Talbot, an ex-public schoolboy who had resigned his commission in one of the "better regiments" in the Army during the mid 2000s following an unfortunate incident in Afghanistan. Having dabbled briefly in the private security world he found himself being offered a position as a "greeter" for Mountwilliam and Partners, a private bank offering complex investment mechanisms for wealthy clients to generate huge income with limited exposure to tax. Although he knows very little about the details of these accounts Eck is very good at buttering up the right sort of client for Bilbo Mountwilliam to ply his wares to.
All goes well for two or three years and Eck finds his own fortunes waxing along with those of his firm. He decides to go for a golfing holiday in France with Lord Henry Newark, an old schoolfriend who might just be looking for the sort of investment opportunity that Mountwilliam and Partners might be able to offer.. While discussing some of the preliminaries over a couple of drinks in a village square they are accosted by Charlie Summers, a dissolute and downbeat English ex-pat who asks them for a light and joins in their conversation. This chance meeting will have significant repercussions throughout the rest of the novel.
The humour is dry and understated but very telling, and Torday's simple portrayal of the unfettered risks that such investment schemes offered makes one wonder how anyone, let alone the so-called experts, could ever have failed to see the inevitable consequences..
All in all it was very entertaining, despite the gravity of the basic subject matter.

[carolinetrevor · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I cannot rave about the writing of Paul Torday highly enough and both my husband and I can equally enjoy his work on different levels. This book follows the economic 'downturn' and explores the effect that money and loss of money have on people's lives and the consequences of greed. There are an array of some wonderful characters and the subject, although appearing heavy, is dealt with in a light and humorous way whilst making the reader think. Totally enjoyable and thought provoking.

[mumineurope · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Eck, Charlie, traders going bust. Not nearly as good as his others,

[hollytom · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the fourth book by this author who seems to specialise in stories about men who are social misfits.The tale is narrated Eck who has featured in another of the author's books telling the tale of his acquaintance Charlie Summers. I wasn't sure that the structure worked in that the narrator was describing in detail events in the life of a man that he barely knew. This aside I thought that this was an enjoyable read with a poignant twist at the end.

[dsc73277 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Brilliant. Torday does it again, with his best book since his debut 'Salmon Fishing in the Yemen'. This one follows the apparently contrasting fortunes of an ex-Army man turned hedge fund salesman with those of a similar looking small-time con-man, the Charlie Summers of the title. As the story progresses it seems Torday is suggesting the similarity between them does not end with their physical appearance. He seems to be hinting that many of the money men who did most to land us in our current economic malaise were just as much confidence tricksters as the hapless Charlie, despite a more respectable appearance.

How about this for a neat summary of how we got in to the state in which we now find ourselves:

"We had behaved as though risk had been banished; but, like some awful monster crouching in the shadows beneath the stairs, it turned out to have been there all the time."

There's a longer, and even better comment along these lines in the Epilogue, talking about how "the music that the rest of us had been dancing to for the last few decades really had stopped, at least for the time being."

I could imagine some readers might have a problem with Torday's unusual mixture of humour, romance and topicality, but it is a mixture that appeals to me. He is very good at examining the predicament of a certain kind of weak and lost middle aged male character. The part played by hunting, fishing and country houses in his novels, combined with their wit, are suggestive to me of a Wodehouse for the twenty first century.

This book also has one of the best endings, or certainly the most poignant, I've read in months.