So Many Ways to Begin
LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZEDavid Carter cannot help but wish for more: that his wife Eleanor would be the sparkling girl he once found so irresistible; that his job as a museum curator could live up to the promise it once held; that his daughter's arrival could have brought him closer to Eleanor. But a few careless words spoken by his mother's friend have left David restless with the knowledge that his whole life has been constructed around a lie.
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So Many Ways to Begin
Jon McGregor
4th Estate
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
First published by Bloomsbury in 2006
This eBook published by 4th Estate in 2017
Copyright © 2006 by Jon McGregor
Cover image © Mat Taylor
Jon McGregor asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins
Source ISBN: 9780008218676
Ebook Edition © January 2017 ISBN: 9780008218683
Version: 2016-12-07
‘So Many Ways to Begin confirms his reputation … Beautifully written’
Irish Times
‘Both triumphant and almost unbearably moving’
Waterstone’s Books Quarterly
‘McGregor’s talent remains dazzlingly apparent … McGregor captures in near-poetry what it is to lose our beginnings and to recreate a past’
Scotland on Sunday
‘McGregor’s gift is in finding the extraordinary in everyday life, subtly invoking your empathy with utterly believable characters’
Eve Magazine
‘The writing is powerfully spare and unadorned … an immensely sympathetic portrait of a marriage’
Time Out
‘Beautifully poetic’
Observer
‘His work has been compared to Philip Larkin in the way that it draws on a certain monochrome Englishness but the colour and poetry of his writing brings a luminous depth to his subject’
Metro
‘I absolutely loved this book’
Mariella Frostrup
‘A tender and invigorating picture of domestic life drawn by a masterly hand’
Big Issue
‘Compelling and convincing. A deeply rewarding read’
Good Book Guide
‘A very fine, affecting work that moves gracefully towards an unforgettable conclusion’
Glasgow Herald
‘It is a heartbreaking, luminous and wonderful work … He is an accomplished author who writes with blinding insight. One of the best books of 2006’
Shropshire Star
To Alice
Contents
Copyright
Further praise for So Many Ways to Begin
1 b/w photograph, Albert Carter, defaced, c.1943
2 Handwritten list of household items, c.1947
3 Local Map, Whitechapel district, London, annotated, c.1950
4 Tobacco tin, cigarettes, Christmas card, 1914
5 Shoebox of assorted domestic goods, bullets, shrapnel, 1953–1960
6 Postcard from Greenwich Maritime Museum, c.1953
7 Opening programme, Coventry Municipal Art Gallery and Museum, 1961
8 Two telegrams, November 1939 and April 1940
9 Contract, wage slip, duty sheet, from Coventry Museum, 1964
10 Letters, handwritten, 1966–68; Paper Napkin, 1966
11 Cigarette holder, tortoiseshell, believed 1940s
12 Picture postcard, Union Street, Aberdeen, c.1966
13 Pocket appointment diaries (incomplete set), dated 1935–1959
14 Pair of letters, handwritten, February 1967
15 Picture postcard, John Lewis shipyard, Aberdeen c.1967
16 Birth Certificate, 17 March 1945
17 Pair of cinema tickets, annotated ‘19th May 1967’
18 Disciplinary letter, typewritten on headed paper, January 1968
19 Identity badge, Junior Curatorial Assistant, Coventry Museum, W/Photo, 1967
20 Examination results, Scottish Highers, July 1967
21 Train ticket, Aberdeen–Coventry (Single), 15 September 1968
22 Book of Co-op dividend stamps, 1968
23 Handwritten list of coventry addresses, August 1968
24 Doorkey on a knotted loop of string; Wedding certificate, October 1968
25 Lacework placemats (wedding gift), 1968
26 Geologist’s rock-hammer, in original case (wedding gift, unused), c.1969
27 Model fishing boat, handmade c.1905
28 Page torn from Aberdeen Press & Journal, crumpled, August 1968
29 Set of clothes pegs, traditional style, w/hand-drawn faces, c.1920s–1950s
30 Girl’s hairbrush, wooden-handled, c.1940s
31 Nurse’s fob watch, engraved RCN, 1941
32 University prospectuses; 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974
33 Pill bottles, prescriptions; dated variously 1973–1987
34 Small vase, handmade by unknown Warwickshire potter, 1974
35 Tobacco tin; used for storing buttons, beads, safety pins, c.1960s
36 Catalogue from museum exhibition, ‘Refugees, Migrants, New Arrivals’, 1975
37 Framed photograph (w/broken glass), David and Eleanor, c.1975
38 Wine cork, dated (handwriting) August 1975
39 Hospital admissions card, 1945 (Discovered 1976)
40 Scrapbook w/postcards, tickets, maps, etc., 1979
41 Cut fragments of surgical thread, in small transparent case, dated July 1983
42 Pocket address book, w/page torn out, c.1982
43 Small fragment of metal, unidentified, 1983
44 Pair of child’s gloves, striped, c.1983
