So Many Ways to Begin

So Many Ways to Begin
Jon McGregor

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.

So Many Ways to Begin

Jon McGregor

Copyright (#uf9f55537-8c0f-5387-8acf-f473e6d48480)

4th Estate

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.4thEstate.co.uk (http://www.4thEstate.co.uk)

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

Further praise for So Many Ways to Begin: (#ulink_9a172f84-09e6-5074-a2dc-362aac4c2c9f)

‘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

Cover (#u7d2471a3-914f-5650-9ece-eb6b52702df9)

Title Page (#u61ecb778-7828-58ee-a1df-2d0e2e0829fb)

Copyright