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Running Away
Running Away
Dec 4, 2025 11:39 AM

Author:Leslie Thomas

Running Away

Written with the characteristic wit and good humour, Leslie Thomas's novel tells the story of a grown man who runs away from home, and the adventures that befall him in his quest for a new lease of life. His latest love affair discovered (thanks to an observant fifteen-year-old daughter who points out the still-wet suds of expensive soap lingering in his ear), bestselling author Nicholas Boulting sets off amid a torrent of abuse to see what else life can offer. After his fantasy escape to Luxor turns into a nighmarish excursion to Malaga, Nicholas returns hastily to London. He moves into a flat in Little Venice with Sol Solomon, a sex-mad writer of dubious reputation, and sits down to write his next novel, Owls of Desperation. Full of the qualities we have come to expect from his novels, Running Away is Leslie Thomas's eminently readable and enjoyable story of one man's mid-life crisis.

Reviews

A love story in the very best sense of the phrase...a very good novel as well as an enjoyable one

—— Literary Review

A tense and steamy narrative

—— Times Literary Supplement

A patchwork of pain and longing stitched into a satisfying pattern by Rose Tremain's humour and depth of sympathy

—— Mail on Sunday

The Lightning Keeper is a big, old-fashioned panoramic feast of a novel ... A marvelous story.

—— Philadelphia Inquirer

This is a beautifully crafted book - at once a gripping adventure story and a compelling portrayal of human emotion at its bravest and its most vulnerable

—— Economist

The Colour is the produce of a large and generous talent, generous in its giving of enjoyment

—— Financial Times

An engrossing novel, an adventure story with a sensitive side

—— Observer

The Colour is a measured book, a diligent, painstaking book

—— Sunday Telegraph

She is a magical storyteller - it is as an artist that she excels

—— New Statesman

Brilliantly detailed and textured

—— Daily Mail

Tremain is the finest of historical fiction writers

—— Gloss

It's uncommonly well written, with a bountiful supply of manic energy... Would Paul Auster kill to write a book as playful, fast-paced and unashamedly populist as this? Doubtful, but somewhere there's a "Paul Auster" who might

—— Alastair Mabbott , Herald

Sparky debut

—— Jonathan Barnes , Literary Review

Benedictus takes us on a trail of the contentious highs and lows of the rich and famous in a mixture of dark humour and sharp dialogue. For Benedictus, and his valiant debut novel, more of the same please

—— Ben Bookless , Big Issue

The story of the ultimate celeb after-party, it's a knowing wink at publishing and celebrity culture - a high-concept first novel sitting just the right side of salacious

—— Elle

The Afterparty avoids smugness partly because it has more affection that vitriol for the culture that it mocks... It's very funny, but sad, too... Well-drawn characters, smart dialogue and a canny plot

—— Anthony Cummins , The Times
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