Gideons Daughter

Synopsis

William Sneath dictates his latest book to a hired secretary. Exploring themes of love, loss, parenthood, and the cult of celebrity, Gideon's Daughter is set against the backdrop of New Labour's rise to power, the death of Princess Diana, and the ill-advised development of the Millennium Dome.

Sneath's friend Gideon is a hotshot publicist and a widower, driven to the edge of a nervous breakdown by his daughter Natasha's emotional detachment from him. She resents him for repeatedly cheating on her mother, going so far as to call his mistress as her mother lay dying of cancer. To put distance between them, she at first plans to do volunteer work in South America or (her father's preferred choice) to study at the University of Edinburgh.

Stella is mourning the death of her young son, killed while riding his bike on public roads for the first time. Afraid of sleep, and desperate to escape her sense of bereavement, she works the night shift in a supermarket where she raises guinea pigs in the back. She meets Gideon when her ex-husband tries to accost one of Gideon's clients, a New Labour minister, about the government's lack of response to the unsafe traffic conditions that caused their son's death. Soon after the chance meeting, the two find themselves developing an emotional bond, brought together by a shared sense of grief and loss.

Stella convinces Gideon to try reaching out to Natasha before she leaves, but Natasha reacts angrily to Gideon's overtures and Stella's presence. Gideon's work suffers as he becomes even more detached from the disastrous Dome project, which winds up pushing it forward as his clients mistake his detachment for genius. Gideon eventually suffers a breakdown, but is helped through it by Natasha, who has warmed up to Stella and accepted that Gideon has changed. Sneath relates that during a huge party for his friends and clients, Gideon – as well as Natasha and Stella – essentially disappeared. However, Sneath caught a glimpse of Natasha on the streets of London many months later - and she looked radiant, which he took as a sign that Gideon had mended his relationship with her and had stayed with Stella.