New Year’s Eve in London finds a desperate woman climbing the stairs of a tall building with the intention of throwing herself off. Then, she finds three other people up there with the same intention.
Thus begins this quirky, dark -humored novel by British author Nick Hornby. The four people talk themselves down, go for coffee, then decide to form a support society. Each is completely different from the other – a disgraced TV personality, a punk young woman, a failed (American) rocker, and a middle-aged woman with a terribly disabled child.
It concludes relatively happily, as the four encourage one another to accept and conquer the challenges they each face.