Ethan Hawke has had four Academy Award nominations, two for acting and two for writing. A Bright Ray of Darkness is his fourth novel although it is the first I have read. It tells the story of a movie actor, William Harding, who has been cast as Hotspur in a Broadway production of Shakespeare’s Henry the Fourth. William is currently getting a lot of unfavourable publicity in the tabloid press and on television; his wife, huge rock star Mary, is divorcing him because he cheated on her while he was in Cape Town, South Africa, which made international headlines. As if this isn’t stressing him out enough he is going to have to prove that a movie star can perform Shakespeare with some of the world’s best stage actors.
William is devoted to his two small children and is spending as much time as he can with them at his temporary home in his suite at the Mercury Hotel. Ethan Hawke makes William’s love for his children and theirs for him very believable. He has lovely, natural conversations with them makes sure they are safe and well looked after whenever they are with him.
William’s life is complicated and, as usual, I don’t want to give away any of the story. I felt I had to read the book quickly to keep up with William’s angst-ridden, rather self-destructive life. It was impossible not to like him and to keep on wishing him well with his Broadway role and with sorting out his issues with Mary.
I romped through this most enjoyable book. Ethan Hawke is a natural-born story teller and not a bad looking bloke either.
5 out of 5, young man!
William Heinemann, Penguin Random House UK
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