Thomas Gage
Published on 7. October 2004
Book
Paperback/Softback
304 pages
978-0-09-946098-5 (ISBN)
Description
Thomas Gage is a happy man. He has a fine house in Norfolk, two delightful children, a wife who brought with her a nice income from her father's paint firm, a Waterloo medal, and a painting on show at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. Then, a few months after Thomas Gage's fiftieth birthday, Julius Gooby enters his life.
Mr Gooby is a man of the future, manager of the proposed North Norfolk Railway from Norwich to Cromer, and the route of the railway crosses Gage's land. With the railway comes tragedy, and Thomas Gage's life begins to unravel until, at the end, medal on his chest, he travels to London to watch the Duke of Wellington's funeral and to take his revenge.
With Thomas Gage James Fleming has fashioned another historical fiction of the very first rank, a portrait of a good man undone by grief, by others' greed and, ultimately, by progress.
Mr Gooby is a man of the future, manager of the proposed North Norfolk Railway from Norwich to Cromer, and the route of the railway crosses Gage's land. With the railway comes tragedy, and Thomas Gage's life begins to unravel until, at the end, medal on his chest, he travels to London to watch the Duke of Wellington's funeral and to take his revenge.
With Thomas Gage James Fleming has fashioned another historical fiction of the very first rank, a portrait of a good man undone by grief, by others' greed and, ultimately, by progress.
Reviews / Votes
"So delightful [and] so skilful in its mixture of historical detail, mild social satire and Norwich School landscaping... Well fashioned, well characterised, wryly and suavely written - and very welcome" * Sunday Times * "Well-researched and very readable, Thomas Gage bears comparison with the Victorian classics it ambitiously imitates" * Times Literary Review * "There are fine set pieces... and the period is as well-painted as is possible in modern fiction" * Independent * "Fleming's subtle characterisation and beguiling descriptions of pre-industrial England make the poignancy of subsequent events all the sharper. This sensitive exploration of a man's mind and how market forces impinge on it offers further proof that Fleming is engaged in challenging the conventions of [this] genre" * Daily Telegraph * "A work of considerable power" * Guardian *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Vintage Publishing
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 199 mm
Width: 131 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
210 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-09-946098-5 (9780099460985)
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
Person
James Fleming, the nephew of Ian Fleming, was born in London in 1944. He is the author of four previous novels, all of them good: The Temple of Optimism, White Blood, Cold Blood and Rising Blood. He writes in Scotland.
Visit him online at www.jamesfleming.com
Visit him online at www.jamesfleming.com