GoldA Novel

In his first two books, Incendiary and Little Bee, award-winning writer Chris Cleave grappled with terrorist attacks and the plight of refugees. Now, in Gold, his third novel, Cleave takes on less political but differently harrowing subjects: the adrenaline-steeped world of elite track cycling, the fraught nature of competition and friendship, and the question of how much, exactly, to sacrifice for a dream. Kate Meadows and Zoe Castle have been cycling competitively together at the national level since they were 19, best friends and bitter rivals in equal measure. Now 32, they are facing their last shot at an Olympic gold medal — and only one of them can win.

Obsessive, distant Zoe, always trying to outrace her own demons, is prepared to sacrifice anything — even her closest relationships — for the gold. Dedicated, selfless Kate has already given up two shots at Olympic glory, when she stayed home to care for her sick daughter; this upcoming trial is her only remaining chance. Meanwhile, at the heart of the novel, eight-year-old Sophie is battling a recurrence of her leukemia, and the girl’s obsession with Star Wars is outmatched only by her fierce determination to shield her mother by pretending to be less ill than she is. Zoe and Kate both know that competitive cycling requires a single-minded focus, a brutal and fierce willingness to push through pain to coast along the limits of one’s endurance. But what happens when sports bumps up against the messiness of real life? What’s a friendship worth? What might the costs of winning be? And how can you decide what risks are worth taking?

The story hurtles towards its climactic showdown with a breathless pacing that suits its content. Cleave can turn a phrase: a weak and apprehensive smile “came out like a newborn foal; its legs buckled immediately;” and Kate thinks of her husband that “people had their natural habitats, after all, demarcated not in ecologies but in ages. He’d been perfectly adapted to being nineteen, and she was better at being 32.” The race scenes in particular are written with a tense skill, breaking down the psychology and strategy of top-level athletes forced to make game-changing, split-second decisions while exerting all their physical force. If Sophie sometimes seems a touch too precocious, or if some of the more soap-operatic plot twists telegraph themselves in advance, these transgressions are forgivable. The story is compelling, and knowing how you think it should end is no assurance that it will, in fact, resolve as it should. Emilia Fox narrates clearly and competently.