Resume: Wonderful Tonight is set against a background of rural Norfolk during the Thatcherite years and deliberately follows a pivotal year in the life of Stuart Harvey who is essentially ‘Mr. Average’ and father of two. Stuart is however considered an above average teacher who due to accumulated frustrations within his profession undergoes a gradual epiphany and despite the economic harshness of the times decides to give up the relative safety of his teaching career. The first part of the novel which is deliberately written in an ‘easy-read’ and hopefully humorous style charts Stuarts growing disillusion with the education system and onto the realization that despite everything indicating otherwise, he wants to follow his long-suppressed desire to play the guitar in a band. The novel then builds through the establishment of the band and onto their first successful gig using ‘Clem’, Stuart’s guitar-playing alter-ego to comment on the experience. Harsh economic reality begins to dawn on Stuart and after a disastrous gig in rural Lincolnshire, which touches on his previous world, the band effectively disintegrates leaving Stuart adrift in the wreckage of his decision to quit teaching. The second part of the novel reflects the darker part of the journey as he fails to find employment and also fails to appreciate his wife's relative career success. Within this family vacuum a potential problem with Stuart's eldest daughter goes unnoticed and Stuart is forced to reflect on his contribution to the family’s predicament as it begins to degenerate towards dysfunction. A chance meeting leads to Stuart’s life resuming some semblance of normality and effectively saves his family and thus his journey ends with a sense of optimism. Wonderful Tonight is named after an Eric Clapton track popular on set lists of the time and usually played as a final number. A glossary of terms is included for the benefit of those who did not live through and experience the lifestyle of these times. “A riveting good read in every sense” The South Norfolk magazine for light engineering brackets “The creation of Clem as a subjugated and subliminal ultra-ego (or id?) is a literary masterpiece but possibly indicates the schizophrenic tendencies of the author himself.” The Leighton Buzzard Journal of Psycho-therapy
