Every Four Years
A novel about love, politics, the Union, domestic abuse, family, celebrity, loss - and second chances.
EVERY FOUR YEARS begins in 1993, moving forward at four-year intervals up to December 2025, and is told from the point of view of both protagonists.
Wayward teenager Callum meets Nia, his brother’s girlfriend. Resolving to pursue her when he’s grown up, fireworks go off four years later when they get together, burning bright but ending with a bang.
The relationship’s failure propels Nia towards coercive control from her rebound boyfriend and Callum towards a rudderless existence on the fringes of tabloid celebrity. Each has to find a way to move on, and so Nia takes a seat in Parliament but neglects her family, while Callum runs away from those he has hurt and washes up in Hollywood.
In mid-life they are brought together again by tragedy. Is there any way back for them?
EVERY FOUR YEARS is inspired by – and dedicated to – the MPs who have stood up in the House of Commons and shared their stories of abuse.
Nia is a fictional addition to their ranks, explaining her experience of coercive control before the term was widely recognised.
Politics quietly infuses the entire story, which unfolds on a loose electoral cycle of four years.
It is also a love letter to the UK, featuring characters from every country, including protagonists from Northern Ireland and Wales.
Most of all it is the story of two people always tied together unknowingly by invisible string that will lead them back to each other.
Locations in the book
