
The Pools
Bethan Roberts(Author)
Serpent's Tail (Publisher)
Published on 3. July 2008
Book
Paperback/Softback
304 pages
978-1-84668-651-1 (ISBN)
Description
Middle England, mid-1980s. The kind of place where nothing ever happens. Except something has happened. A fifteen year old boy called Robert has been killed, down by the pools. And half a dozen lives will come unravelled.
There's Kathryn and Howard, Rob's parents. Kath has been making the best of her second marriage after the love of her life died young. Howard has been clinging onto a family life he hardly expected to have. There's Joanna, the teen queen of nowheresville. She's been looking for a way out, escape from her parents' broken marriage. She thought Rob might take her away from all this, but lately she?s started to think Rob might have other plans. And then there's Shane, with the big hands and the fixation on Joanna.
Bethan Roberts' strikingly assured debut novel subtly reveals the tensions and terrors that underpin apparently ordinary lives, and can lead them to spiral suddenly out of control.
There's Kathryn and Howard, Rob's parents. Kath has been making the best of her second marriage after the love of her life died young. Howard has been clinging onto a family life he hardly expected to have. There's Joanna, the teen queen of nowheresville. She's been looking for a way out, escape from her parents' broken marriage. She thought Rob might take her away from all this, but lately she?s started to think Rob might have other plans. And then there's Shane, with the big hands and the fixation on Joanna.
Bethan Roberts' strikingly assured debut novel subtly reveals the tensions and terrors that underpin apparently ordinary lives, and can lead them to spiral suddenly out of control.
Reviews / Votes
Haunting, menacing... the vivid portrayals of adolescent sexuality paint a tense and evocative story -- Ben Myers * Shortlist * Roberts does a fine job of evoking the arrival of partially unwelcome adulthood and a vague sense of menace * Observer * An assured and macabre debut -- Elizabeth Lowry * Guardian *More details
Edition
Main
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Profile Books Ltd
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 197 mm
Width: 130 mm
Thickness: 19 mm
Weight
215 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-84668-651-1 (9781846686511)
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
Person
Bethan Roberts was born in Oxford and brought up in nearby Abingdon. She has MAs from Sussex and Chichester universities and teaches creative writing at Chichester and for the Open University. Roberts was awarded a Jerwood/Arvon Young Writers' Prize for The Pools.
