The Twenty-Five Deeds of Hanson Drake

THE LIFE AND WORDS OF HANSON DRAKE
'It isn't all just kismet. Some of it is serendipity. Some of it is sagacity. A lot of it is doing the right thing simply because we can. The difference between those who don't and those who do, is that those who do, do. It doesn't get any more complicated than that.'
BLURB
Hanson Drake has five hundred million in the bank and a house on the beach overlooking the ocean. As the writer of the world's favourite song, he hasn't had to do a day's work in his life.
Stung into action by a derisive article in a national newspaper, Hanson Drake decides to change his life by becoming a volunteer at a country house.
He vows to do at least one good deed every day in the twenty-four days leading up to Christmas in the hope of securing salvation and redemption for his wasteful life.
In helping others, he finally understands his place in the universe as he learns to celebrate the ordinariness and eccentricities of the people he meets.
But what does fate have planned for Hanson Drake?
NOTES
The Twenty-Five Deeds of Hanson Drake is Christmas story set during Advent. The novel can be enjoyed at anytime of the year, but it makes a perfect Christmas read between 30 November and 25 December.
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REVIEWS
HANSON DRAKE is a fantastic Christmas novel. It is right up there with A Christmas Carol and It's A Wonderful Life in setting the mood for the holiday season.
I laughed and cried, sometimes on the same page.
I loved this book It was so easy to get into and I really liked Hanson Drake.
I can highly recommend Briar Kit Esme's "25 Deeds of Hanson Drake." Just finished reading it; highly enjoyable and thought provoking.
Briar Kit, I loved your rich, elegant and amusing style. I liked your characters a lot, and could even feel some sympathy for a rich person who tries to appear poor (the exact opposite of me...). Thank you very much for this gift
I'm not sure if I just read an advent story or a craftily worded philosophic treatise. Either way I'll certainly be in line to buy Briar Kit's next novel.
HANSON DRAKE tickles the soft underbelly of the British middle-classes. There's something reminiscent of Jerome K. Jerome or P. G. Wodehouse in Briar Kit Esme's gently comic writing.
Deceptively simple. It was only when I reached the final chapters that I realised just how deep and perceptive a novel HANSON DRAKE really is.
HANSON DRAKE is both a great novel that is simple, and a simple novel that is great. The kind of book that will still be read one hundred years from now.
The chapter about Talulah Bowles was so moving. The final scene reduced me to tears. I can't believe I cried. But it seemed to be the least that I could do.
I thought I knew exactly how the book was going to end. I was so wrong about that.
I sat down to read one chapter. Ended up reading the whole book. Who doesn't want to meet a man like Hanson Drake?
I could see the BBC making HANSON DRAKE into one of those serialisations that they usually do for Dickens' stories. Would be a festive hit.
In our house, the moral imperative question is now framed as: What would Hanson do?
I have read HANSON DRAKE six times so far.
One minute you're chuckling at Gordon and Gwen and are immersed in a highly benevolent vision of Middle England, and the next you are thrown by the moving chapters about Talulah Bowles, River Becken and the Fawn.
The chapter about Noah Guilmard-Mistry...if people only read one chapter, they should make sure that it is that one.
I hated Vincent Virgo at first sight, but grudgingly admired him by the end of the chapter. Very clever writing. Vinny and Alexis could have stepped out of the pages of a Dickens' novel. Quite a tongue.