Showing results for "Tennis" in Genre Fiction

Confessions of an Ageing Tennis Player is the guidebook that navigates dreams and disappointments, failures and triumphs—a satirical mid-life-crisis handbook for everyone who has never quite fulfilled their fantasies, on the tennis court or anywhere else. This is the story of a man of a certain age who has never quite moved on from his youthful fantasies as he goes from sporting zero to sporting hero. And back again. Set against the backdrop of Wimbledon in 2013 when Andy Murray was the first British player to win the championship for decades, unsurprisingly, ‘Andy’ makes an appearance.

For Ned, 1980 seems a blissful year. Handsome, charming, popular and talented, his life is progressing smoothly, effortlessly, happily. And when he meets the lovely Portia Fendeman his personal jigsaw appears complete. But timing is everything in life, and his life is about to change for ever. Things are going to get very bad indeed for innocent young Ned. A promise made to a dying teacher and a spiteful trick played by fellow pupils will rocket Ned from cricket captain to solitary confinement, from head boy to hell.

You’re a disappointment to everyone. You’re a far cry from beautiful - and your thoughts are ugly too. You seem bound to fail, bound to break. But you know what it is to laugh with your best friend, to feel the first tentative tingles of attraction, to take exquisite pleasure in the affront of your unruly body. You just need to find your place. From dead pets and crashed cars to family traumas and misguided love affairs, Susannah Dickey's revitalising debut novel plunges us into the private world of one young woman as she navigates her rocky way to adulthood.