About Last Night (2011) (edit title/settings)

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• Stephanie Blake: Stephanie Blake is a loving mother who is deeply devoted to her three young boys. She believes she has the perfect husband who loves her dearly and gives her the life she has always wanted. She is also extremely loyal to her best friend Pip, and always makes herself available to help her when Pip needs it. Yet when she finds that her life isn't as perfect as she thought is was, she slowly realizes that is takes more than keeping up appearances when it comes to being happy.
• Philippa (Pip): Steph's best friend and the second main character of this novel. She is outgoing, passionate, and firecely loves her daughter Chloe. Though she isn't always the most responsible or organized person, she is extremely loyal to Steph and tries to be around for her as often as she can.
• Julian Blake: Stephanie's successful husband who spends more of his time working than being with his family. This choice seems to have paid off, for Steph and the kids live in a beautiful house with anything they could ever want in front of them. Yet Julian is not as happy as he seems to be, and that leads him to make a choice that could eventually cost him everything.
• Kirsten: Kirsten is a 22 year old spoiled brat who was given everything handed to her on a silver platter. She spent her teenage years doing drugs, partying, having affairs with older men, and burning through daddy's credit card. After she is finally cut off from her family and forced to live on her own, she starts using her numerous boyfriends and their platinum credit cards to make herself happy. However Kirsten becomes fed up with the way her life is heading and ends up hitting a breaking point that will change everything. For the worst.
• Chloe: Pip's 8 year old daughter. She is beautiful like her mother, and has a sweet personality. She doesn't exactly know what is going on around her as the story progresses because Pip tries to shield her from pain and loss in an effort to be a good mother.
• Jules: Julian's alter ego given to him by someone in the novel....
• Robbie Donaldson: The kind man Pip meets on the tube and starts a relationship with. At first he seems mysterious, but we come to know him as a gorgeous and honest man who works as a fertility nurse. He is level-headed, romantic, and very loyal to Pip.
• Subhash: This is Stephanie's secret friend. They were meeting on and off for about four months before Steph found out that Julian was having an affair. He is very kind and cares very much for Stephanie... maybe a little too much. His wife (Paadini) spends nine months out of the year with her family in her home country, she Subhash is often lonely and wishes had he Stephanie in his life. As much as he wants Steph, he values the love she has for Julian, and ends up helping her out of a huge problem later in the book.
• Dylan: This is Pip's ex-husband. Although he never makes an appearance during the course of the novel, he is often mentioned for practically ruining Pip's life.
• Mrs Evans: She is the housekeeper/cleaner for the Blakes. Stephanie describes her a nosy when she is first introduced in the novel, but she is also very helpful to the Blakes.
• Brian: Brian is one of Kirsten's married boyfriends. He is also her boss, and tends to frustrate her because of the harsh way he treats her in the office.
• Jake Mason: Jake is the sexy young guy that Kirsten went to college with, but never got the opportunity to date. He is working in the same company as her, but has a corporate position. Although they don't know too much about each other, Jake takes interest in Kirsten during a pivotal time in the book.
• Harry: Harry is Stephanie and Julian's oldest son. Because he is on the cusp of his teenage years, Harry is seen to have a few dramatic moments. However he seems to have a great relationship with Stephanie, and seems to be very protective of her when things take a turn for the worst.
• Alan Edwardson: Alan is one of Kirsten's old boyfriends. She dumped him because he was going to leave his wife for her, but Kirsten didn't like him enough to be with him.
• Freddie: Freddie is Stephanie's youngest son. Being only five years old, he is oblivious to what transpires during the course of the novel.
• Alfie: Alfie is Steph and Julian's middle boy. He seems to be very spirited and seems to understand the severity of what happens between his parents later on in the novel.
• Mrs Amstell: This is Steph's mother. She comes to Steph's aid later in the novel. She embodies the typically characteristics of a great mother, and makes a huge effort to make her family happy.
• Mark Deally: Another one of Kirsten's old boyfriends. He too was from the same office where she worked. Kirsten refers to him when she thinks of the time she adjusted his tie in an elevator and Jake Mason walked in.
• Mary Jean Brown: A police officer that interacts with Stephanie.
• Mr Khan: He is the doctor who treats Julian after his accident. Stephanie was unsure of his ability to take care of Julian because of his name
• Rosie: Julian's efficient and organized assistant at work.
• Philippe: One of Pip's ex-boyfriends.
• Mrs Hodgson: She is the Blake's next door neighbor. She watches Harry, Alfie, and Freddie when Steph goes to the hospital to be with Julian.

Quotes edit see section history

• “Stephanie liked to cultivate the idea that she was a Mary Poppins sort of character, free from unreasonable gripes and excessive moaning.”

• “Pip had been devastated by Dylan's desertion (as she liked to call it). Desertion had a nineteenth-century ring to it, a hint of tragedy and drama that rather appealed to her.”

• “Stephanie glanced around her kitchen; her eyes darted from one micro-scene of domestic carnage to the next. Yes, normally she was organised. If anyone caught her at, say, eleven in the morning or two thirty in the afternoon, even 9 p.m., she definitely would be able to proudly wear the badge 'organised'. But the times in-between, the times when her family spilt out into her domestic perfection, were rather more chaotic.”

• “The truth was she knew he liked the fact that he earned so much and she spent so much, it was a way of showing the world that he was an effective hunter-gatherer. The kiss he'd never notice because that wasn't on a bank statement.”

• “No good ever came out of rushing things or, put less delicately, no good ever came of shagging a man on the first date because what was his incentive to come back? Everyone knew that. It was written on the stone slabs that Moses brought down from the mountain and while those self-help slash dating guidebooks didn't agree on much, they emphatically agreed on that.”

• “'I thought we needed to have some kind of formal way of saying, I don't know, maybe goodbye,' said Julian quietly. 'There never was a baby,' Steph sensibly pointed out, as doctors and nurses and family and friends had sensibly pointed out to her. Not to be cruel but in a misguided attempt to comfort her. 'I know. I think we need to say goodbye to our never-was baby.' Steph nodded, unable to speak because of all the love that was choking her.”

• “Steph paused in the doorway to gather her breath and her thoughts. She'd done the same thing just before she walked down the aisle to marry him all those years ago. In many ways she felt like she way making that decision all over again. She was committing to him. She was giving herself to him.”

• “But I think we're a bit like a vase that's been knocked over and smashed into lots of pieces but a vase that's loved so much that instead of being chucked, we've been carefully glued back together. So now while we're no longer pristine and shiny, we are aware that we are loved and we've endured and that seems somehow more important than being pristine and shiny.”

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• London
• Selfridges
• Highview Hotel
• Riverford
• Paris
• France
• Cornwall

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Adele Parks (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Literature & Fiction