Relax and Read Book Club: Common Decency - the debut novel by Tom Allen

Spabreaks.com’s Relax and Read Book Club gives you the chance to discover new books, learn about the authors, share your opinions and really escape into an inspiring world of literature.

This month we're reading Common Decency - the debut novel by Tom Allen, a smart, funny read from the beloved comedian, delivering dark humour in a sharply witty suburban tale set in a quiet and unassuming English suburb. When developers threaten the postcard perfect community, and its central oak tree, the neighbourhood unites in its response, giving rise to repressed neuroses, resentments, and deep secrets.

"A deliciously witty suburban comedy of manners with real bite, shot through with Tom Allen's trademark humour. A brilliant debut novel!" - TERRY DEARY, #1 Sunday Times bestseller

We’d love to know your Summer Read recommendation - the one you'd press into someone's hands at the start of the holidays. Is it something new you're looking forward to this year, or a title you return to every summer?

When I was younger I loved reading Tales of the City and the following books in Armistead Maupin’s series. They are books about a group of young people living in San Francisco in the late 1970s and early 1980s all lodging in the house of the elderly bohemian, Mrs Madrigal. It covers the ups and downs of their lives including tragedies and camp silliness. I loved it because it was witty and showed what was possible from life.

Common Decency - give us your best holiday pitch. What's the story, who is it for, and why is it the perfect spa break companion?

It’s about a small suburban community living in the shadow of a large oak tree which is threatened with demolition. It’s about how the different mysterious characters all reveal themselves through their protests and how they realise they are much more connected than they ever realised.

I wrote it as a celebration of different people living alongside one another. I think in our apparently polarised age when everyone seems fixated on their individual screens and not acknowledging the people around them we can forget how much there is to be gained from community.

Writing and unwinding - do you escape somewhere specific to write, or to stop writing? Tell us about your ideal environment for both creative thinking and proper rest.

For writing I think you have to disappear somewhere. Either in your own home or abroad. If at home you have to be quite unapologetic to your loved ones and just explain at the beginning that you are going into your own little world - respectfully asking them not to disturb you under any circumstances - to ignore you completely. They don’t need to ask how you’re doing or if you’d like something to eat or drink. Only when you are totally at peace can you allow your mind to be filled with the world of your novel and only then can the characters play out their lives for you. If abroad that is much easier of course. And rest is an important for letting your story unfold in your mind - a swim in the water or a nap under a tree can yield more ideas than you might at first realise.

If you could design your perfect spa break, what would it look like? Think setting, treatments, the playlist and of course, what's on the reading list.

Oh I love this. It would be somewhere with lots of nature to enjoy. The first thing would be that your phone and all technology would be confiscated (with reassurance that urgent phone calls can be made on a landline). It would be silent except for occasional chatter and the soothing sound of birdsong.

To start, you would be served a juice and then told to write down three things you would like to achieve for yourself during the spa break.

Then you would be taken through a series of classes that help relax parts of your brain and your body that you haven’t thought about for ages.

Massages and treatments would be part of this. Things like tree hugging, skipping through the files and laughter therapy would be mandatory - anything to make you treat life less seriously. There would also be creativity - painting, poetry writing and dance classes.

You would drink loads of water!

Dinner would be something light and very healthy.

A bath would be ready for you in your room. After which you would fall asleep with the window open listening to nature.

Sauna or steam room?

Steam room - so good for the voice (and I do talk a LOT)

Paperback or e-reader?

Paperback - I like to know how far I’m into a story. I also like the sense of achievement you feel on moving your bookmark.

Early morning dip or sunset soak?

I wish I was an early riser but I go to bed too late. I love a sunset soak there’s something about being in the water as the day comes to an end it feels very restful.

The book you'd take to a desert island?

I’m not very practical so maybe something like ‘How to Survive Being Stranded on a Desert Island’. Failing that, how about something upbeat and full of hope like Great Expectations. 


Tea, coffee or something stronger - what's your writing fuel?

Coffee. Usually a double espresso topped up with a dash of hot water. Did I mention I have trouble going to sleep?


Guilty pleasure read - the one you'd always pack for a spa break?

I don’t have any guilt about whatever I’m reading. I think all stories and all styles of writing have their time. I find that when I’m most relaxed physically I am more inclined to read quite heavy-going books. I loved Hilary Mantel’s series of novels about Thomas Cromwell, for example.