The Golden Gate, by Gillian Butler

This embracing dive into a struggling relationship during a difficult time in recent social history will quickly absorb readers as Gillian Butler paints the picture of a family with ambition, love, and self-discovery fighting to reach each other once more as an emotional divide pulls them apart.

From the blurb;

‘Simon Westover, a Londoner and prize-winning bridge-designer, dreams of creating something as iconic as the Golden Gate bridge. His ambition is to link things up. But he is unaware that his self-absorption has the opposite effect on his relationship. Just after the 2008 financial crash his wife initiates a separation and he is faced with a series of crises that threaten to destabilise him altogether. His family, friends and colleagues are caught up in the turmoil that follows. Simon is, at first, oblivious to the need to change his ways.’

The Golden Gate is Butler’s debut novel and shows off not only her creative talent and vivid imagination but equally her 30 years of experience as an Oxford Psychologist. She puts this vast knowledge and experience into each of her characters, creating well rounded, lifelike, persona’s that are wholly believable and make the story easy to relate to for readers.

Simon, while our main character throughout the story, is not the only voice to The Golden Gate, his thoughts, feelings and experiences balanced with the perspectives of other essential characters in his life, such as his wife Ruth, whose perspective highlights the things that Simon is failing to see and through whose emotions we realise Siomon’s short-comings.

With both Ruth and Simon heading up their own businesses in the expensive landscape of London, the 2008 financial crash, a subject which will automatically relate to many readers, brings a new form of chaos to their successful working lives. This rocking of the boat, for a couple who have thrived on being comfortable in their financial situation with a nanny managing a lot of the day to day for their children and a yearly holiday always in the books, applies a stressor that widens the divide between these two characters and kicks off the main plot of the story.

Butler clearly did her research for Simon, laying out the in’s-and-outs of his main passion, his job building bridges, to ensure that the immersion into this novel is not broken by the minutia of the day job. This attention to detail allows readers to grow an understanding of his desire to succeed and his love for his role, however it also acts as a firm highlight as to how Simon’s priorities are twisted by his passions. Time with his children, the needs of his wife, the lives of his friends all come second to Simon’s passions and throughout The Golden Gate we cling on painfully as he slowly, but surely, comes around to realise that his dreams of being successful in his field are leaving little time for the people he loves.

Leaning in to the thought that Simon’s tunnel vision for his job is destroying his life Butler shakes things up with Ruth’s perspective, dispersed throughout we breath deep with Ruth, appreciating all of the little things that she does that go unnoticed, and ensuring that when she decides to announce her desire for a split it comes with understanding from the readers, if not a small amount of delight.

While in Simon’s perspective we can easily get wrapped up in the rush and desire he has for success, Ruth provides the introspective Simon so desperately lacks. Meanwhile the perspectives of close friends and colleagues further shape our understanding of the couple’s relationship and position us to understand their place in this world against those of others. As we the readers get a clearer perspective on the relationship at the centre of this story so does Simon, and with steady growth we see his perspective and understanding change to make him a better man for his friends and his family.

Filled with introspective The Golden Gate dives deep into the psych of marriage, family and friendships, offering a story of success, failure, division and connection. Throughout the novel Butler uses the symbolism of Simon’s beloved bridges to cross the divide not only between characters but between the story and the readers connection to it.

While some readers may find the novel jumpy in places, with the plot spanning from the summer of 2008 to the winter of 2013 in only 276 pages, this quick movement through Simon’s timeline highlights the moments of his life during this span that he considers worthy of note, and through doing so allow Butler to highlight the steady change in his thinking and priorities as time moves steadily forwards.

Equally while they are obviously key elements to Simon’s life and important to the novel Simon’s children do not feature maybe as strongly as parents will know children do in real life. While this may have been a decision to ensure that the concentration of the novel remained centred on the adult relationships and thought process it would have been nice to see the children have stronger character arch’s from the very beginning of the novel and to have been able to appreciate them for genuine personalities outside of the generalisations of being children.

The Golden Gate stands as a strong debut for Gillian Butler, suggesting a future of novels to come with strong character development and mindful looks into the social and emotional bonds of people. For those who enjoy a heartfelt introspective into genuine emotions and the turmoil’s of life The Golden Gate should not be missed.

 We give The Golden Gate Four Stars

ISBN – 978-1-916764-07-1

Cover Price - £12.99

First published 2025 by Forward Thinking Publishing