Publication Date: June 20, 2023
Secret walks and late-night phone calls. An undeniable chemistry. A tragedy that haunts them both. A powerful yet tender love story between two people who can’t help but be pulled back to each other.
This is the story of Will and Rosie. The two are opposites in every way and yet they fall for each other as teenagers; nineties music, sideways glances, sunsets and bonfires and talking late into the night. It’s palpable, inevitable: they’re on the precipice of starting something wonderful. Until one day, tragedy strikes, and any possibility of being together seems to shatter.
But time and again, Rosie and Will find their way back to each other. Though the years pass, they cannot quite let go of what might have been.
Talking at Night tells a story of sudden connections, missed opportunities, the many loves we have over a lifetime—and the one that keeps us coming back, again and again, for more.
Talking at Night is a debut novel by author Claire Daverley filled with emotion and often tearful.
The story is told by Rosie and Will, who meet as teens and feel an immediate connection even though they come from different places. Rosie and her twin brother are raised by two parents and seem to have a normal childhood and upbringing. Will and his younger sister are being raised by their grandmother, and he is a bad boy in many ways, even if he does well at school. Two very different people that could have a future in their eyes even though they are on different paths for their future and they don’t communicate much.
Told in three parts—before, after, and long after—involves a single incident that devastates Rosie, Will, and other characters we interact with within the story. This one incident is alluded to in a short prologue and is glossed over more than I would have thought during the story’s telling, even though it significantly impacts everyone.
Rosie and Will go about their lives individually but occasionally together. Before sets the stage and the pace of the story. After and long after, they interact, but months or years can go by without them speaking or being together. Their paths can cross again, or they can talk to one another, and then months or even years can go by. They always seem to pick up where they left off—good or bad.
Others often see things about them and their relationship that they don’t or won’t, but they seem to live in their own heads. Will always wants what’s best for Rosie and goes out of his way to ensure it happens. They both move on with their lives and with others, even if they don’t always make good choices, but they are still always drawn together.
There are secrets and lies, along with lots of partying and drinking. The story moves slowly for the most part since so many details are given about their lives and how they live them. We see their harmful interactions with others and how neither seems to be living their best life. The story has some closure, but it left me wanting more. I liked the title, which was spot on, and how the cover was portrayed.
Talking at Night is a great first novel, and I will be happy to read another book by Ms. Daverley.
Claire Daverley graduated with a degree in fine art from the University of Oxford, and began a career in publishing, writing about books by day but her own by night. She currently lives in Scotland with her husband and spaniel Talking at Night is her debut novel.
