Check out our Most Anticipated Books for 2025

Beyond the Book: Background information when reading The Society of Others

Summary |  Excerpt |  Reviews |  Beyond the Book |  Read-Alikes |  Genres & Themes |  Author Bio

The Society of Others by William Nicholson

The Society of Others

by William Nicholson
  • BookBrowse Review:
  • Critics' Consensus:
  • Readers' Rating:
  • First Published:
  • Jan 1, 2005, 240 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Jan 2006, 240 pages
  • Rate this book

  • Buy This Book

About This Book

Beyond the Book

This article relates to The Society of Others

Print Review

William Nicholson is a playwright for film, TV and stage. His TV credits include Shadowlands (the life of C.S. Lewis) and Life Story, both of which won the BAFTA Best Television Drama award in their year.  His first play, an adaptation of Shadowlands for the stage, was Evening Standard Best Play of 1990, and went on to a Tony-award winning run on Broadway. He was nominated for an Oscar for the screenplay of the film version, which was directed by Richard Attenborough and starred Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger.

Since then he has written more films and also The Wind On Fire trilogy for children.  The first book in the series,  The Wind Singer, won the Nestle Smarties Prize Gold Award on publication in 2000, and the BBC Blue Peter Book of the Year Award in 2001 (both prestigious UK awards for children's books).  The other two books are Slaves of the Mastery and FiresongThe Society of Others is his first adult book. He lives in Sussex, England, with his wife Virginia and their three children.

His next book, The Trial of True Love, was published in the UK in May 2005, and will be released in the USA in March this year.  I'm reading it at the moment and, sadly, am finding it to be not nearly as compelling as The Society of Others. However, others find much to praise, for example The Sunday Express newspaper (UK) describes it as 'wonderfully involving and perceptive...Clever, funny, subtle and hopelessly romantic.'

Filed under

This "beyond the book article" relates to The Society of Others. It originally ran in February 2005 and has been updated for the January 2006 paperback edition. Go to magazine.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: The Sequel
    The Sequel
    by Jean Hanff Korelitz
    In Jean Hanff Korelitz's The Sequel, Anna Williams-Bonner, the wife of recently deceased author ...
  • Book Jacket: My Good Bright Wolf
    My Good Bright Wolf
    by Sarah Moss
    Sarah Moss has been afflicted with the eating disorder anorexia nervosa since her pre-teen years but...
  • Book Jacket
    Canoes
    by Maylis De Kerangal
    The short stories in Maylis de Kerangal's new collection, Canoes, translated from the French by ...
  • Book Jacket: Absolution
    Absolution
    by Jeff VanderMeer
    Ten years ago, the literary landscape was changed forever when Jeff VanderMeer became the "King of ...

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Pony Confidential
    by Christina Lynch

    In this whimsical mystery, a grumpy pony must clear his beloved human's name from a murder accusation.

Who Said...

Show me the books he loves and I shall know the man...

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

X M T S

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.