Passing Go
Will be published approx. on 1. February 2001
Book
Paperback/Softback
320 pages
978-0-340-71883-4 (ISBN)
Description
On the high ground above the great city, Roy and Helen live in brittle affluence inside a weary marriage. Of their four children, three have long vanished into the sprawling, sluttish metropolis beneath: Marcus the dotcom entrepreneur, Shona the shocking Britart princess, and Danny - the one nobody will talk about. But the last child Zack itches to know more about his lost brother; and gets his chance when the smooth surfaces of family life are abruptly blown apart. Roy is sacked on his fiftieth birthday, stages an unconventional protest in the office doorway and rapidly finds himself a homeless exile in the city's darkest streets. It is Zack's chance to escape down the hill in turn, while his mother Helen makes a bizarre decision of her own.
Reviews / Votes
'tender, funny insightful . . . warm, clever and thought-provoking' The Big Issue A whirlwind of contemporary social issues . . . an extreme and entertaining picture of modern urban life. How Libby Purves manages to weave all this into a comedy, I don't know. But she does. * Philippa Boston, Daily Mail * An author who tackles difficult contemporary issues with insight and compassion. Expect the unexpected in PASSING GO, a tale for our times. * West Lancashire Evening Gazette * Humorous and touching * Good Housekeeping * Libby Purves has excelled herself with this portrait of a dysfunctional clan, which is as full of sharp observations, insight and humour as her readers will have come to expect * Christina Koning, Times * Purves ties up this tale with her usual skill . . . a modern fable with an old-fashioned message of tolerance and humanity at its core. * Play * Both comic and poignant, the late of the magnificently dysfunctional Keaney family * West Lancashire Evening Gazette * Urban life depicted in a most revealing way * Manchester Evening News * An astute tale of modern middle-class family breakdown and role reversals. An urban sitcom turned upside-down * The Scotsman * sharply observed, thought-provoking, witty - and ultimately optimistic and, indeed, heart-warming * East Anglian Daily Times *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Hodder & Stoughton
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Illustrations
n/a
Dimensions
Height: 195 mm
Width: 128 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
226 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-340-71883-4 (9780340718834)
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
Libby Purves is a writer and also a broadcaster who has presented the talk programme Midweek on Radio 4 since 1984 and formerly presented Today. She is a main columnist on The Times and in 1999 was named the Granada "What the Papers Say" Columnist of the Year, and awarded a O.B.E for services to journalism. She lives in Suffolk with her husband the broadcaster and writer Paul Heiney.