R J GOULD

My books

Dream Cafe

“Why on earth am I here?” David wonders as he observes the juvenile antics of ex-classmates at the twenty-five year school reunion. Then he sees Bridget.

David draws up a list of all that he hopes to achieve to kick-start a new life now that his wife has moved in with his best friend – his ex-best friend. A relationship with Bridget is top of the list, opening an arts café is a close second.

Formidable women – an unfaithful wife, a reckless teenage daughter, a boss from hell, a disapproving policewoman – seem like insurmountable obstacles.

But it’s still OK to dream, isn’t it?

Nothing Man

One man in need of an overhaul. Two women determined to drag him there.

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Neville Watkin’s life is so rubbish surely things can’t get any worse.  Yes they can, because his wife leaves him, he loses his job, has a car crash and ends up in hospital.

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Feisty Laura, the other party in the car crash, befriends him and sets out to turn his life upside down. For reasons he struggles to understand, Caroline, her equally feisty mother, seems to like him. Rather a lot.

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All in all things are looking up, but is Neville courageous enough to seize these new opportunities?

The bench by Cromer beach 

They seem to have it all. They’re in good health and are financially secure. They live in a pleasant and comfortable town. But as their lives intertwine, cracks emerge and restlessness grows.

For Clive, is retirement the beginning of the end? Can fun-loving Saskia break free from her adulterous husband? Will Andy marry his childhood sweetheart? Is Jamie prepared to change his dishonest ways? Might Ellie’s happy marriage be shattered by temptation?

Heartwarming and heartbreaking collide in this novel about aspirations, expectations and the realities of everyday life.

Mid-life follies

Why has his wife abandoned him after 23 years of blissful marriage? Is she having a midlife crisis? Should he be having one, too?

Life is absolutely fine for Hugh and Liz Thorpe in Cambridge, England – a comfortable lifestyle, good health, kids to be proud of and a loving relationship. Then Hugh decides to take early retirement and it all goes hopelessly wrong.

A succession of twists and turns are preventing a restoration to the normality that the couple increasingly crave as their children, parents and friends find out that immaturity isn’t exclusively the preserve of the young.

​The Engagement Party

When eight parents, step-parents and partners are invited to Wayne and Clarissa’s engagement party, a catastrophe is on the cards.

Their families are about to meet for the first time. With eight adults to contend with, making the celebration a pleasant experience for all is going to be tricky. In fact, the obstacles seem insurmountable. Number One: the two families are from vastly different social backgrounds. Number Two: there are severe tensions between the exes. Number Three: some of the new relationships are falling apart.

Things go from bad to worse during the week leading up to the engagement party and the stress of it all is threatening Wayne and Clarissa's relationship.​

Jack & Jill went Downhill ​

Freshers Big Party Night and it’s love at first sight. There’s passing amusement when they discover that their names are those of the nursery rhyme, but the connection with the children’s story is long forgotten as the relationship thrives during their university years.

Life isn’t quite as comfortable when studies are over and they start work, Jill teaching in a rundown part of London and Jack trading derivatives and futures in the City. They fail to recognise that their lives are replicating the nursery rhyme plot as misdemeanours result in Jack falling down. Before long, Jill is tumbling after.

Their marriage is on the rocks. Can it survive?