Never Greener: the number one bestselling novel from the co-creator of GAVIN & STACEY

Ruth Jones

Apr 2018 · Random House

About this ebook

THE NUMBER ONE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER, PICKED FOR THE ZOE BALL TV BOOK CLUB

'Ruth Jones is excellent on human nature and why we make the mistakes we do. I felt for every character. Unputdownable.' Jojo Moyes

The past has a habit of tracking us down. And tripping us up.

When Kate was twenty-two, she had an intense and passionate affair with a married man, Callum, which ended in heartbreak. Kate thought she'd never get over it.

Seventeen years later, life has moved on - Kate, now a successful actress, is living in London, married to Matt and mother to little Tallulah. Meanwhile Callum and his wife Belinda are happy together, living in Edinburgh and watching their kids grow up. The past, it would seem, is well and truly behind them all.

But then Kate meets Callum again.

And they are faced with a choice: to walk away from each other . . . or to risk finding out what might have been.

Second chances are a rare gift in life. But that doesn't mean they should always be taken . . .

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In her unmissable debut, actress and screenwriter Ruth Jones shows us the dangers of trying to recapture that which was once lost and failing to realise the beauty of what we already have.

Praise for Ruth Jones:

'I love books about gnarly, messy relationships and this one kept me gripped from the beginning. A great read.' Jane Fallon

'Heart-rending, provocative and astutely written, Never Greener is a love story about getting what you want and losing everything you need. Ruth's characters will stay with me for a long time.' Cathy Bramley

'Easy to read and full of laughter - and truth.' Daily Mail

Readers have fallen in love with Never Greener:

***** 'Loved this book from start to finish.'
***** 'I fell in love with all the characters and could not put it down.'
***** 'Brilliantly written, laugh-out-loud hilarious yet tear-jerking.'

****RUTH'S BRILLIANT NEW NOVEL LOVE UNTOLD IS AVAILABLE TO PRE-ORDER NOW. COMING IN 2022****

Ratings and reviews

I took a break from the novel with around 50 pages to go to the end, simply because I loved it so much I couldn't quite bear to have it be over. Like many, I have loved Ruth Green's writing on television, and in Never Greener, her skills shine even more. This is a beautiful book. It's touching and poignant without ever being sickly or sentimental, and it's a fantastically realistic portrayal of life, where not everything is simple, love doesn't conquer all, and things get tangled. I loved that each character had agency and depth, and the dialogue always felt natural and real. I also loved reading about older characters in the context of love, sex, and personal growth. So often, middle age is a time either ignored by novels, or if it is discussed, it's in the context of a mid life crisis. Never Greener, though it has a few crises, doesn't fall into that mid life crisis trope, and that is really refreshing. Highly recommended.

This book got off to quite a good start, that moment of fatal attraction between two people who should know better, who should be better. Unfortunately, it goes down hill from there - everybody in this book is relentlessly looking backwards and refusing to live in the present. Whilst your past can be a comfort and nostalgia can be joyful in this books case it is downright depressing and it makes the present bleak and the future one that makes you want to end it all. I never really felt like I got to know any of the characters except in the most superficial of ways. Whilst this worked well for Kate - whose profession necessarily makes her someone you will never truly know (that's my big worry about anyone who is an actor - how much of what you see is actually real? They make their living out of being convincing deceivers after all). It is much less effective for Callum, Belinda, Matt and Hetty. In fact, Hetty is a relatively minor character trapped in Matt's orbit and we perhaps know the most about her. I did find the whole book rather misery inducing to be honest. People lieing to each other, justifying their lies to themselves and just generally behaving badly. Callum in particular annoyed me and Belinda didn't exactly inspire me sympathy to be honest. It was just all so much doom, gloom and heartbreaking. Whilst I'm not averse to a depressing read or a read about the worst in people's characters this book just left me feeling somehow grubby and like I shouldn't have looked in on the character's lives. To be fair, this does mean that Ms Jones managed to elicit feeling from me through her writing. Maybe it isn't the feeling she set out to create but it was there so job done. The narrative does flow well on the page and the author's voice doesn't overpower the tale. Just a shame the characters are so intangible.

I felt this took some time to settle into, however once you got to know the characters it was great. A fantastic debut; funny, sad, heartwarming, but away from your typical love story. Yes indeed it's Never Greener, but nearly all those who deserve to, win.

About the author

Ruth Jones is best known for her outstanding and award-winning television writing - BBC 1's Gavin and Stacey, in which she played the incorrigible Nessa, and Sky 1's Stella, in which she played the titular role. She has won acclaim for her performances in BBC dramas Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Little Dorrit and Hattie, as well as comedies Little Britain, Saxondale and Nighty Night.