Starting from Anywhere

Britain, late 1960. A generation comes of age believing it can change the world.

Through the eyes of Tony Gethyn, we follow a circle of friends as they leave school and university to forge careers in politics, journalism, advertising, business and public life. Fired by the optimism of the 1960s, they embrace new freedoms and limitless possibilities. Yet as idealism gives way to ambition and the excesses of the 1980s, each discovers that every success carries its own cost.

Threading through their lives is Damir Steggles: charismatic, brilliant and dangerously ambitious. As his influence grows, so too does the damage he leaves behind, testing friendships, destroying loyalties and forcing those around him to confront the values they once held dear.

Moving between Britain, France and America, Starting from Anywhere is both an intimate portrait of unforgettable characters and a sweeping panorama of a society in transition. Rich in humanity, wit and insight, it explores how personal choices are shaped by extraordinary times, and how history is made not only by those in power, but by the lives they touch.

The opening volume of Jim Powell’s remarkable While the Music Lasts, this is the story of a generation that believed it could change the world.

ISBN: 978-1-917837-08-8 (hardback) ISBN: 978-1-917837-00-2 (paperback) ISBN: 978-1-917837-01-9 (epub)

WHAT THEY HAVE SAID ABOUT WHILE THE MUSIC LASTS

‘Idly, and with a few minutes to spare, I began reading the pre-publication excerpts of While the Music Lasts. Half an hour later I was still reading – gripped, immersed in Jim Powell’s world. Sharp, funny, unsparing, through the lives of his characters a whole epoch leaps from Powell’s pages.’

Matthew Parris, writes for The Times and The Spectator magazine, and broadcasts for the BBC

‘A whirl of lives – over forty years – with love, money, jobs and friendships riding the horse of change; a rewarding read.’

Kate Adie, former Chief News Correspondent for the BBC, radio presenter and bestselling author

‘Jim Powell was the epitome of my generation of novelists. His books – and this is no exception – are insightful, gripping, quiet but meaningful. This, his final novel, could have been written by that other Powell, Anthony, and there is no greater endorsement than that.’

Richard Charkin, Publisher, author and former President of the International Publishers Association

‘Bestselling author Jim Powell was a fine writer, and his last novel – covering the rich half-century from the 1960s to the new millennium – is highly ambitious. It follows the interacting, somewhat cosmopolitan lives of some fifteen characters, mostly in Britain, France and America. They come from various backgrounds, they think about class – for this is a very English book – they struggle with jobs, marriage, death and survival. They always engage us.

The plot is quiet, the spirit recessional. The structure of the book evokes Eliot’s ‘Four Quartets’. Powell is very good at quiet irony; and, evoking the mood of his times, his dialogue is wonderfully authentic.’

Edward Rutherford, bestselling author of Sarum and New York