
A provocative challenge at a dinner party a serendipitous encounter on a Northumberland cliff top the accidental death of a friend & the rupture of his marriage converge to disrupt Peter Bowman's well-ordered middle-class existence as he approaches middle age Peter negotiates a sabbatical from his job as a solicitor to pursue his long held ambition to write fiction He embarks on an odyssey which leads him to new challenges & loves shaped by happiness & tragedy When Peter goes to France to stay with Sally an enigmatic freelance journalist with a troubled past he takes the first tentative steps towards writing a novel But can he as a member of the pre-baby boomer generation ever fully escape from the constraints imposed by his background & upbringing & embrace the liberal & permissive attitudes of the 1960s & achieve his lifelong ambition? Inspired by modern writers including Sebastian Faulks Kate Atkinson & Julian Barnes Beyond the Arch is the debut novel from David Evered which explores the changing society & culture of the late 1960s The book will appeal to readers that enjoy contemporary fiction as well as those interested in relationships