Four New Words for Love Paperback

Christopher is a decent, elderly, suburban Londoner learning to live again after his release from a loveless marriage following the death of his wife.

By chance he meets Gina, a young homeless women from Glasgow, on Waterloo Bridge.

With new-found spontaneity, he offers her room for the night, and there begins an unlikely platonic friendship between two people from opposite ends of the country, both geographically and socially. Gina has left behind a life devoid of opportunity and a dark tragedy, and slowly, under Christopher's protection, she re-finds her confidence.

But a causal remark shatters their fragile domestic idyll, forcing Christopher to leave London and travel to Glasgow's mean streets to find and be reconciled with his new friend.

Four New Words for Love is a beautifully crafted portrait of two damaged lives from different ends of the social spectrum who are both seeking release from the mistakes and thwarted potential of the past.

Michael Cannon demonstrates a masterful restraint and boundless empathy in his development of two unforgettable characters attempting to change their lives.