A Weekend With Claude
Published on 6. December 2012
Book
Paperback/Softback
160 pages
978-1-84408-854-6 (ISBN)
Description
'Extremely lively' TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT
'A work of art' SCOTSMAN
'Genius' SUNDAY TIMES
An old snapshot shows a group of friends lounging in the sunshine, on a weekend in the country at the invitation of bearded, satyric Claude and his wife Julia. The girl in the centre is dreamy Lily, whose latest failed love affair forms the purpose of the weekend, as Lily's friends set out to help her ensnare an unwitting father for her unborn child. Next to her is Norman, a Marxist romantic hell-bent on seducing his milk-white hostess; behind them is old, persecuted Shebah; and slightly apart, the young man on whom all hopes are pinned: quiet, pleasant Edward.
Told through the fractured narratives of Claude, Lily, Shebah and Norman, in Beryl Bainbridge's first published novel a darkly comic weekend of friendship and failure unravels.
'A work of art' SCOTSMAN
'Genius' SUNDAY TIMES
An old snapshot shows a group of friends lounging in the sunshine, on a weekend in the country at the invitation of bearded, satyric Claude and his wife Julia. The girl in the centre is dreamy Lily, whose latest failed love affair forms the purpose of the weekend, as Lily's friends set out to help her ensnare an unwitting father for her unborn child. Next to her is Norman, a Marxist romantic hell-bent on seducing his milk-white hostess; behind them is old, persecuted Shebah; and slightly apart, the young man on whom all hopes are pinned: quiet, pleasant Edward.
Told through the fractured narratives of Claude, Lily, Shebah and Norman, in Beryl Bainbridge's first published novel a darkly comic weekend of friendship and failure unravels.
Reviews / Votes
It is her skewed and deadly grasp of the immediate that makes Bainbridge's work unique. Formerly an actress, she has an uncanny ear for dialogue, a perfect sense of timing and a terse, elliptical narrative style that combine to create a dramatic, or cinematic, tension * New York Times * Extremely lively and incisive entertainment * Times Literary Supplement * [Bainbridge's] genius lies in the comic evocation of the mundane life against which her characters are in revolt * Sunday Times * A riotous, macabre imagination * Daily Telegraph * Delicious . . . Very elegant and pleasing . . . A work of art * Scotsman * Extremely lively and incisive entertainment * Times Literary Supplement * Her genius lies in the comic evocation of the mundane life against which her characters are in perpetual and ineffectual revolt * Sunday Times * Delicious . . . very elegant and pleasing . . . A work of art * Scotsman *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Little, Brown Book Group
Illustrations
None
Dimensions
Height: 195 mm
Width: 128 mm
Thickness: 11 mm
Weight
134 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-84408-854-6 (9781844088546)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Persons
Beryl Bainbridge (1932-2010) wrote eighteen novels, two travel books and five plays for stage and television. Five of her novels were shortlisted for the Booker Prize, Every Man for Himself and Injury Time won the Whitbread Prize, The Bottle Factory Outing won the Guardian Fiction Prize and Master Georgie won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. Four of her novels including An Awfully Big Adventure were adapted for film. In 2011, Bainbridge was honoured posthumously with a special Best of Beryl Man Booker Prize in recognition of her outstanding career. Her final novel, The Girl in the Polka Dot Dress, was published in 2011.