The Accidental Marathon
by Lucy Hawking
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Thirtysomething Fleur Bonner has often wished for what she can't have. To be thinner. Taller. To be more successful. Instead, she has what she never wished for: a rock star for an estranged dad, a career selling fake antiques and a London flat with no central heating. And she certainly never wished for the chance to run, not even a few yards. But when she accidentally agrees to train for the London marathon, her impulsive decision seems a good idea in a life cut rather adrift. Perhaps, along show more with the misfits, the lost and the lonely who make up the Battersea Runners' Club, Fleur will find the focus that she seems to have lost. Before they get anywhere near the starting line, Fleur's cobbled-together existence is rudely ripped apart. From girl-about-town to jail-bird, her fall is swift and brutal. But what happened? And why? And will her cell door lock forever or will she find her freedom once again? show lessTags
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Member Reviews
Acquired via BookCrossing 21 Oct 2009 - kindly passed to me by Gill when I needed some light reading
This was a slightly odd mix of chick-lit and international art crime. It did have some running in it - indeed, more than I'd expected - and I especially liked a part at the end that made me well up slightly (ugh!). I read it on the coach on the way down to London yesterday and it was perfect for that, really light and fairly easy to follow.
Ended up passing it on to my friend Tanya who I met for tea; she wanted to know what BookCrossing was about so went off with this one and will hopefully leave it somewhere in New York on the next leg of her travels!
This was a slightly odd mix of chick-lit and international art crime. It did have some running in it - indeed, more than I'd expected - and I especially liked a part at the end that made me well up slightly (ugh!). I read it on the coach on the way down to London yesterday and it was perfect for that, really light and fairly easy to follow.
Ended up passing it on to my friend Tanya who I met for tea; she wanted to know what BookCrossing was about so went off with this one and will hopefully leave it somewhere in New York on the next leg of her travels!
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Author Information
22+ Works 2,854 Members
Lucy Hawking was born in England in 1970. After reading French and Russian at Oxford University, Lucy Hawking became a journalist. She has worked for New York Magazine and has written for the Daily Mail, The Telegraph, The Times, and the London Evening Standard. She has also worked as a radio journalist. She has written two novels: Jaded (2004) show more and Run for Your Life (2005), which was also published as The Accidental Marathon. She and her father, Stephen Hawking, are the authors of the George series. The children's book series includes, George's Secret Key to the Universe, George's Cosmic Treasure Hunt, George and the Big Bang, George and the Unbreakable Code, George and the Blue Moon, and George and the Ship of Time. She is an administrative staff member of the Autism Research Centre (ARC) at the University of Cambridge. She is the daughter of theoretical physicist, Stephen Hawking. She lives in London. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Accidental Marathon
- Alternate titles
- Run for Your Life
- Original publication date
- 2006
- People/Characters
- Fleur Bonner; Brinley St. John Boulden; Sir Jed Harris
- Important places
- English Harbour, Antigua; London, England, UK
- Epigraph
- The icon is not a picture to be looked at, but a window through which an unseen world looks through on ours...
- St John Damascene, On Divine Images, AD 730 - Dedication
- G. L. Wilde
In loving memory - First words
- The horizon was perfectly still, the endless straight line of the placid sea flat against the clear sky like blue stripes on a brightly coloured beach towel.
- Quotations
- 'Fleur, don't be silly,' said Spook patiently. 'You collapse in exhaustion if you stand up for too long. You need a rest after half an hour of filing.'
'I was a member of a gym,' said Fleur defiantly.
'Yeah, yeah, you went twice and paid the membership for five years, I know your sort,' said Spook. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Perhaps in the future she will say yes, but for now she's free of prison and free from her past and that feels like enough.
- Disambiguation notice
- THE ACCIDENTAL MARATHON was released as RUN FOR YOUR LIFE in the United States.
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Statistics
- Members
- 30
- Popularity
- 930,633
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (2.80)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 3
- ASINs
- 1
