Blurb
Mike de Vere is a literary agent with high standards and a passion for great writing. He is equally discriminating in matters of the heart and ready to fall in love. But when his best client sacks him and his hopes of marriage are dashed, Mike begins to fall apart. Emotionally stunned, he seeks respite in the beautiful wilderness of the Black Mountains, only to discover that his old flame Madelin now lives there with her husband.
Drawn into their marital crisis, Mike's humiliation as the superfluous middleman is neatly perfected. But when a top agent suggests a plot to restore his fortunes, Mike begins to come alive again. It looks like love and achievement might be his at last – if he is prepared to do the wrong thing, and do it ruthlessly.
Unfinished Business is a brilliantly entertaining novel about literary and romantic passions in marriage and work.
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https://www.amazon.co.uk/Unfinished-Business-Conrad-Williams/dp/1448215528
'A superb writer. Conrad Williams' Unfinished Business rivets as a fascinating intellectual duel between an idealistic agent and a brilliant but dysfunctional writer. For literature lovers this is an engrossing story reminiscent of John Irving's The World According to Garp.' Miami Herald
‘UNFINISHED BUSINESS Reader Responses
'Unfinished Business is a masterpiece. I loved it completely, beginning to end -- and as intellectual as it is, it strikes me as having such a big and wonderful heart…and is terrifically funny throughout. I found myself laughing out loud at what I realized were inappropriate moments - which then made me laugh even more. And somehow despite the tension and opposition between Mike and Vince and Colin and Nadia and Frank and Madelin, they struck me as true and real characters. I felt a satisfying empathy for all of them (even Colin), which is, for me, the best indication of the genius behind their creation. Thank you for this absolutely wonderful book.'
W.C. Arizona
'What you have done is take this literary agent and weave around him both an existential study of an individual and a critique on writing as an art; and you've done this whilst writing an entertainment. I never at any point wearied of it and always wanted to keep turning the pages. There are some very funny passages; I was particularly struck around p57 where Mike is trying to make an impression at the literary do, feeling unimportant amongst the bigwigs, and sinking into cement.
I have met many Colin Templar's along my tortured journey. Loathsome, of course, but wittily done here. Vince Savage I utterly detested on sight. How many ignorant pricks have I come across like this? But you achieve something very clever and difficult to pull off with this character: creating him so negatively but later building a sympathetic side to him. One of the great scenes, I think, is the moment when Mike tells him that his entire oeuvre is rubbish. That was very powerful and, to me, shocking. The women I liked. I really did recognize them.
Finally, there is the evolution of Mike de Vere himself. The development of the story is an eye-opener regarding the agenting and publishing business for the uninitiated such as myself. What is subtly and unobtrusively achieved is Mike's journey from defender of the Holy Grail of the art, to a pragmatic acceptance of how business works. He doesn't give up his beliefs but he acknowledges the need for the bare knuckle aspect of things. The selling-out of the war memoirs as part of the Moyle deal seems like Mike Corleone's journey in The Godfather. The son of the Don who wants nothing to do with crime but ends up through circumstance massacring everyone and taking over. Strangely, we never lose our empathy for him. I felt absolutely that Mike had done the right thing. If the business has to be run by shits, it may as well be run by a shit who cares.
The story is continually interesting, the characters are clearly delineated, and each has their own voice. There are some great set pieces, and a lightness of touch and a sparkle of humour throughout. The greatest compliment I can pay you is that I now intend to read your previous books.'
D.M. London
'I found it surprisingly unputdownable -- I say surprising because it had never occurred to me that being an agent was quite so dramatic (even without all the sex).
The prose is an especially rich treat. Norman Mailer says good writing is about choosing the word to one side of the one you first think of, and you consistently do that: pick the apt but surprising word. A very entertaining three days (I usually take far longer to read novels, but as I said, I was gripped).'
G.E. London
'I couldn’t put it down, and I’m sure I’m not the only one: I read it in a few days. Mike is instantly compelling, an utterly convincing main character, and you plunge us into the agenting world effortlessly. And what a world! I knew much must happen behind the scenes, but not to that extent! And what characters, they really do fly off the page, as does the dialogue and pretty much everything else about this book. The story, the love affairs, the Welsh setting, Vince - so unlikeable at first, and gradually more and more redeeming and very real. The affair with Madelin is very well done, especially the pacing of it. Actually the pacing of the book is extremely good, a hard one to pull off, given the multi-layered structure of the novel. many plots and subplots, and yet they all meld into one rip-roaring, page turning read.
And boy did I laugh. It is very, very funny indeed. I think that someone needs to send this to Richard Curtis. It would be a brilliant film.'
A.A. London
'Read Unfinished Biz over the weekend and bloody loved it! Great set-pieces & climax, gorgeous characters, effortless/classy shift from first to third, and Mike de Vere is a fucking superhero. Normally it takes me an age to finish books - they simply fall from my hands - but this kept me hooked in a state of perpetual glee.'
D.F. London
'I am REALLY loving your wonderful book: the voice is so strongly yours, funny, preposterous, thoughtful and very, very clever - it’s like going to the best drinks party ever.'
K.S. London
'WOW ... WHAT A STUNNING BOOK! What a great story … and such a fabulous range of vocabulary and imagery … not to mention the very profound and keen observations. I think it’s TRULY excellent and, as you can see, hardly found time to put it down!'
A.J. London
'I have been reading and re-reading the novel ceaselessly.
There is the brilliant use of language and extraordinary characterisation that seems to flow naturally from you.
Your story is so extraordinary: Mike falls in love with the most beautiful 33 year old woman who seems sweetness itself until she castrates him.
I loved the way the characters sought refuge in the wilds of the Black Mountains.
My words are very inadequate but I admire your book as much as I do only one other -Italo Svevo's 'A Man Grows Older'....
I read a stupid article in The Sunday Times that there are no great men left.
Please step forward, Conrad!'
D.S. Forest of Dean
'Pure pleasure, riding the swells of your prose… especially to the beautifully choreographed climax in the scene with Mike and Vince. I read that scene twice, plunged into the reversal, and then rewound to enjoy the music of its structure — interior and exterior. It’s a beautifully filigreed novel. Entwining Mike’s erotic urgency (and confusion and conflicts) with his purer urges as an agent was a masterstroke — the very opposite of the balance and dynamic a reader (this reader, anyway) would expect.
The blurb brackets U.B. with Amis, but I’m not so sure. It’s more antic in its higher moods and more touching in its reflective passages. I guess you can find a certain satiric attitude (the character names, the attitude to the art/commerce establishment), but the novel’s a nearer kin to Jonathan Coe, I think, than to Martin Amis. More heart, a less savage bite.'
J.F. Essex.
'Just to say how much I enjoyed Unfinished Business. I am a slow reader(my lips get tired!), so I've just finished it. I found it wickedly clever in making me confront what it is I wish for, and in particular what I wish for Mike.
It is hugely entertaining, but it has a core of moral seriousness. The reader finds out that if a laugh doesn't hurt at first, it will eventually.'
S.H.