Naught’s Had

A Romance

Naught's Hadis the story of Kimberley and Alex, two ordinary, unsophisticated young people, set against the backdrop of the 70's. As rock 'n roll energizes their world and makes them believe in tomorrow, the story plays out the complexities of these two people, and their choices about how to love, and not love each other.

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AUTHOR’S COMMENTS
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“My novel is about passion, longings, fears. It is about social pressures. It is about letting love be whatever it is. It is about holding on and holding back. It is about games people play. It is about the interplay between love and fear. It is loud. It is urgent. It is young. It is frustrating. It has something to say about being alive.” (Vivian)

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EXCERPT

“One look and he saw that last time was still in her eyes,
in her smile – even more alive now than it had been
that night, as if time kept up the drunkenness, as if
she didn’t know (didn’t want to know) that he’d
sobered up with the day. He smiled to himself – he’d expected her
to come looking for more of the same, expected her to try to tie
him to that. But she was dreaming, and he knew how to wake her
up to a few of the realities of life. He left the door open for her and
went back into the house. He sat down. She stood halfway into the
living room. “So what do you want?” As if he didn’t know – she
didn’t know, she wouldn’t admit it to her to herself. But her smile
was gone. He smiled.

“I phoned. You said to come over.””

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REVIEWS

**“**This isn’t your everyday romance ... These are complex characters, with complex backstories, detailed painstakingly ... characters you won’t soon forget, dealing with issues that are unfortunately too prevalent in today’s society. The author does a masterful job of exploring the complex nuances of relationships with her often lyrical, almost stream-of-consciousness writing style ... [and] paints a vivid word-portrait of just what it's like to seek love, but never find it.”
Publisher’s Daily Reviews

“Kimberly and Alex make their choices until their love for each other leads both to go in separate directions. But, before this happens, we experience the questioning of life itself through these characters, as they try to understand ‘this thing called love,’ intellectually through Kim, and viscerally through Alex. No solution is ever given. We have it “naught” (as it were) – we’ll just have to try to figure it out for ourselves. It’s a ‘whodunnit’ on the relationship front.
‘Shirley Fortescue’