Gold
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4.3 • 43 Ratings
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- £2.99
Publisher Description
The extraordinary third novel from Chris Cleave, author of the internationally bestselling, Costa-shortlisted THE OTHER HAND.
'This is an inspirational and moving novel in so many ways, and everyone should read it.' The Times
Kate and Zoe are friends but also ardent rivals - athletes at the top of their game, fighting to compete in the world's greatest sporting contest. Each scarred by tragedy, and each with a great deal to lose, they must choose between family and glory and ask themselves: what will I sacrifice?
GOLD captures the extraordinary effort and dedication that go into the pursuit of victory. But this life-affirming novel is about more than sport. It is about human endurance, motherhood and love, and what enables us all, in our different ways, to achieve the remarkable.
It is a story told as only Chris Cleave could tell it. And once you begin, it will be a heart-pounding race to the finish.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Cleave (Little Bee) goes for the gold and brings it home in his thrillingly written and emotionally rewarding novel about the world of professional cycling. Zoe Castle and Kate Meadows met at age 19 trying out for the British Cycling Team and have been friends and rivals for 13 years now. Kate might have more natural ability, but Zoe is the more driven of the two. Kate is married to a fellow racer, Jack Argall, and they have an eight-year-old daughter, Sophie, who suffers from leukemia. Zoe is pursued by her own demons and has a tabloid reputation for sleeping around, which doesn't sit well with her agent. Things begin to heat up when the International Olympic Committee changes its rules so that only one cyclist, either Zoe or Kate, will be eligible to compete in the 2012 London Games. Cleave expertly cycles through the characters' tangled past and present, charting their ever-shifting dynamic as ultra-competitive Zoe and Kate are forced to decide whether winning means more to them than friendship, building to a winner-take-all race at the Manchester Velodrome. Cleave likewise pulls out all the stops getting inside the hearts and minds of his engagingly complex characters. The race scenes have true visceral intensity, leaving the reader feeling as breathless as a cyclist. From start to finish, this is a truly Olympic-level literary achievement.
Customer Reviews
Challenging, absorbing and inspiring
I per-ordered Gold expecting to read Chris's perspective on the financial crash and subsequent increase in the value of gold.
Instead I've spent every spare moment of the week following publication experiencing the thrill of pursuit cycling and the pain of childhood leukaemia.
As ever with his writing every character is intriguing and yet totally believable.
The story builds on every page, frequently raising a smile or leaking a tear, the street race literally caused my heart rate to increase.
I had high expectations after reading The Other Hand and Incendiary, Gold is neither better or worse. It is different which marks Chris as one of this periods most talented authors.
Gold
Fantastic read could not put this down it made me laugh, it made my cry and restored my faith in the human spirit.
Mr
Stunning book, I like to try different authors/types of books so go very much by the reviews on here, as a male reader this captured me from the outset, I was hooked and to use an often over utilised phrase I genuinely did not want to put this book down, especially in the second half, truly a fantastic read.