Thursday 6 August 2020

With or Without You by Drew Davies

With or Without you- Drew Davies- Humorous literary fiction
“‘How long does a coma last?’ I ask.‘Days, weeks, months?’The nurse replies with a shrug, although her
eyes are very kind.
‘But on average?’She just smiles, unable to give me an answer.”
Wendy Dixit lives with her husband Naveem in a flat and they keep themselves pretty
much to themselves. She has a sister who is rather critical and vaguely knows the lady
living above who is Mrs Ramprasan. When Neveen has an accident in his taxi Mrs Dixit’s
(as she is mostly known as) world changes as he is left in a coma. His family never had
anything to do with them as they didn’t approve of his marriage. Wendy is advised to sit
and talk to Naveem but she really doesn’t know what to say and feels uncomfortable
doing so. Then the silence and the feeling of being hemmed in gets all too much and she
craves noise and bustle. Mrs Ramprasan takes her to the edge of the airport to watch
and feel the planes taking off and every bone in your body shaking with the vibration.
A story of how things can change in the flicker of an eye and how you can be lost in
what you thought was a familiar world. Of breaking barriers and making friends, of
changing habits of a lifetime and looking at things with a new set of eyes. A very
different read, a thought provoking and at times emotional one that left me with
a smile. 
For more reviews please see my blog http://nickibookblog.blogspot.co.uk/

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Book Description:  


‘How long does a coma last?’ I ask.
‘Days, weeks, months?’ the nurse replies with a shrug, although her eyes are very kind.
‘But on average?’
She just smiles, unable to give me an answer.


Wendy’s life can be neatly divided into two: before and after.

Before her husband’s car accident, it was just the two of them. They never took the train at rush hour, and they avoided their noisy neighbour upstairs. Naveem devoted his spare time to vintage train models, and Wendy to re-reading the well-thumbed pages of her favourite books. It didn’t matter what others thought about their small, quiet life together – they were happy.

After the coma, Wendy barely recognises herself. When she’s not holding the love of her life’s hand, accompanied by the beep of the life-support machine, who is she? The nurse tells her to talk to Naveem – that he can still hear her – but she doesn’t have a single thing to say.

Suddenly Wendy can’t bear the silence. She needs something, anything, to talk to Naveem about. Suddenly she’s losing herself at fairgrounds packed with crowds and candyfloss, she’s at the airport, waiting for the whoosh of the planes as they take off, making friends with the neighbour she has spent over a decade avoiding.

Knowing that every breath her husband takes might be his last, Wendy has no choice but to try to carry on without him. Should she feel guilty about living while his life is on pause? And when – if – he wakes up, will he still love the woman she has become?

This poignant, moving and uplifting tale is for anyone who has taken life for granted, neglected to say ‘I love you’ to their loved ones, or forgotten to find happiness in the little things. Perfect for fans of Josie Silver, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine and Jojo Moyes. 

Author Bio:


Drew Davies was born in London and grew up in Whanganui, New Zealand. He attended the Unitec School of Performing Arts in Auckland and won a Playmarket New Zealand Young Playwright of the Year award in 2000. After a brief stint on a kiwi soap, he has worked in Search for the past 15 years. Drew’s other claim to fame is that Stephen Fry once called him droll. Either that, or he got his name wrong. He now lives in Wanstead, London. 

Twitter: @Drew_Davies
Instagram: @drewdavieswriter

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