David Thewlis

Hector Kipling is a famous artist. But Hector is not as famous as his best friend, Lenny Snook. And as they are standing in the Tate Gallery one afternoon, Hector's life begins to unravel. For a painter, this existential crisis is the place from which great art is born. If the painter happens to be a forty-three-year-old man with a girlfriend away from home, it is the recipe for disaster. Soon it's all Hector can do to keep it together -- between his therapist who shows up drunk at a party and introduces herself to his parents, an irresistible young female poet with a terrifying taste for S&M, and a deranged stalker with an oil-and-canvas-inspired vendetta, just trying to cope is enough to make a man cry. As the events in his life threaten to drive him toward full-blown dementia, Hector finds himself in a bizarre and murderous pursuit of a man threatening to kill him in return, spiraling into a hysterically surreal Hitchcocklike thriller -- the story of how a man can become desperate enough to shoot his way out of a midlife crisis. At turns warm, witty, and joyfully absurd, David Thewlis's wicked comedy marks the debut of a savagely funny and observant literary talent.

A Novel

The Late Hector Kipling

'A riotously good novel, witty and earnest, brimming with sharply drawn characters and creeping suspense. David Thewlis is a fabulous writer' Anna Bailey, Sunday Times bestselling author of Tall Bones Celebrated director Jack Drake can't get through his latest film (his most personal yet) without his wife Martha's support. The only problem is, she's dead... When Jack sees Betty Dean - actress, mother, trainwreck - playing the part of a crazed nun on stage in an indie production of The Devils, he is struck dumb by her resemblance to Martha. Desperate to find a way to complete his masterpiece, he hires her to go and stay in his house in France and resuscitate Martha in the role of 'loving spouse'. But as Betty spends her days roaming the large, sunlit rooms of Jack's mansion - filled to the brim with odd treasures and the occasional crucifix - and her evenings playing the part of Martha over scripted video calls with Jack, she finds her method acting taking her to increasingly dark places. And as Martha comes back to life, she carries with her the truth about her suicide - and the secret she guarded until the end. A darkly funny novel set between a London film set and a villa in the south of France - a mix of Vertigo and Jonathan Coe, written by a master storyteller. PRAISE FOR DAVID THEWLIS' FICTION 'David Thewlis has written an extraordinarily good novel, which is not only brilliant in its own right, but stands proudly beside his work as an actor, no mean boast' Billy Connolly 'Hilarious and horror-filled' Francesca Segal, Observer 'A fine study in character disintegration... Very funny' David Baddiel, The Times 'Exquisitely written with a warm heart and a wry wit... Stunning' Elle 'Queasily entertaining' Financial Times 'A sharp ear for dialogue and a scabrously satiric prose style' Daily Mail 'Laugh-out-loud, darkly intelligent' Publishers Weekly 'This is far more than an actor's vanity project: Thewlis has talent' Kirkus

Shooting Martha

Hector Kipling is an artist: an artist with loving parents, a beautiful girlfriend, dependable mates, good health, and talent in abundance. Or at least, more talent than most, and certainly more than his friend Kirk—who paints cutlery—if not quite as much as their mutual friend Lenny. But when things begin to unravel, it doesn't take long for Hector's charmed world to fall completely and irreparably apart. Indeed, it's amazing just how quickly a life can disintegrate. One minute, you're fine and focussed on the future, the next you're sobbing in front of an Edvard Munch painting in the permanent collection, with no discernible way forward. From settees to stalkers, con-men to corpses, selfportraits to S&M, The Late Hector Kipling is a warm and witty novel about the not-so-warm and witty world in which we live. Tracing Hector Kipling's journey from the dizzy heights of solo shows to a deep hole in the floor of the Tate Modern, it's an irreverent and entertaining exploration of life, death, art, and everything in-between.

Sarah Michelle Gellar

Jonathan Tucker

Larry Gross

Emily Young

Seamus Tierney

Erika Christensen

Veronika beschliesst zu sterben

John Boyne

Mark Herman

Vera Farmiga

Rupert Friend

eine zeitlose Geschichte von verlorener Unschuld und gefundener Menschlichkeit ; Zäune trennen, doch Hoffnung eint

Der Junge im gestreiften Pyjama

UNTITLED THEWLIS 2 PB

Theatre & Performance Biographical File].

David Thewlis

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