A Season of Little Deaths

A Season of Little Deaths opens on a Sunday evening with William and Beth Marlow, both in their seventies, thinking separately on their life together, unaware that a day later William will die. Before news of his death reaches anyone, the reader is introduced to those it will affect most: Nick, their son, who is facing a major challenge in his career; his wife, Cate, who yearns for a life of her own having sacrificed her friends and career to raise their daughter; his brother, Edward, who is lost in a failed, childless marriage; and Sarah Yorke, an old friend who is struggling to be an actress. Set in the modern day, A Season of Little Deaths explored how the life and sudden death of William Marlow - husband, father and grandfather - creates ripples across his surviving family. William's youngest son, Nick, has his loyalty tested both personally and politically; his eldest son, Edward, fights to stop the collapse of his marriage; and his widow, Beth, struggles with a family secret that has haunted her for over thirty years. A Season of Little Deaths shifts perspective between the various characters and storylines, and examines the relationships between parents and their children, the role and failure of communication, the nature of betrayal, the risks of living too much in either the past, present or future, and how single actions can irrevocably shape a lifetime. The title itself also refers to key themes and elements of the novel, notably the deaths of children and 'ordinary' or 'unimportant' people, moments when people feel a small part of them die, as well as - following the French translation - sexual encounters.