The rhythm of life (a novel): and reflections on The rhythm of life

The novel, The Rhythm of Life, is an exploration of personal loss within and across the lives of Celia, Marcia, Mickey and James. The main thrust of the book is that life is the experience of high hopes, thwarted dreams and the need to keep making fresh starts. The forms of personal loss range from that of great expectations (as early promise fades into modest achievement or even failure) to the loss of friendships, loss of selfconfidence or self-esteem, a loss of judgement and betrayals.
Addiction plays an important role too, mainly alcohol dependency and hard drugs. These addictions are linked with characters’ expectations.
Despite the rather glum, negative-sounding themes, the novel is meant to demonstrate that people can not only cope for many years with unfulfilled promise as well as dealing with drinking addiction, but can still find a meaning and satisfaction from their lives.
The accompanying exegetical essay, “Reflections on the Rhythms of Life”, builds upon the word-play in its title: it is a reflection upon the process of creating The Rhythm of Life in relation to authorial ideas, intentions, and strategies, with some reference to work by A.L. Kennedy and Simon Gray which was particularly influential in formulating my approach.