Ask Alice
Published on 1. April 2010
Book
Paperback/Softback
352 pages
978-0-09-953198-2 (ISBN)
Description
Glamorous Alice Keach is one of 1930s London's foremost hostesses. Despite humble American origins, she has secured her place in high society through marriage to one of England's wealthiest bachelors.
But Alice has a secret. Its roots run years back, and miles away, to the dust-blasted prairies of Kansas. It corncerns a lost little boy left under the haphazard guidance of an eccentric uncle. Now, a visit from America looks set to blow apart Alice's glittering pre-eminence forever.
But Alice has a secret. Its roots run years back, and miles away, to the dust-blasted prairies of Kansas. It corncerns a lost little boy left under the haphazard guidance of an eccentric uncle. Now, a visit from America looks set to blow apart Alice's glittering pre-eminence forever.
Reviews / Votes
A gripping page-turner filled with surprises, shocks and deep psychological insight... Intelligent, absorbing and most enjoyable * Independent on Sunday * Utterly gripping reading... You are in for a treat * Literary Review * DJ Taylor creates characters who have dynamic spirit and capture the imagination, while the story has the tension of a thriller, the sensitivity of a romance and the wit of an idiosyncratic adventure * Easy Living * Ambitious and immensely accomplished ... above all a meditation on selfhood and memory * Guardian * A highly accomplished novel. It is engrossingly plotted, and its depiction of the vibrant decade leading to the 1929 Crash offers an interesting parallel to our own times -- Simon Humphreys * Mail on Sunday * Intelligent, absorbing and most enjoyable * Independent on Sunday * Excellent ... the impenetrable, imperturbable Alice compels * Daily Mail * Carefully constructed sets and a convincing commentary on social change -- Charlotte Moore * Spectator * mesmerising novel paints pictures of many different worlds in the early 20th century...busting with detail... captivating * Books Quarterly * When on song, which he often is here, Taylor is a felicitous, intelligent writer. He sets a scene with admirable clarity, peoples it with memorable characters, and offers a plot that will keep most readers hooked and satisfied for nigh on 350 pages. These days this is rarer than you might think -- Alan Taylor * The Herald *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Vintage Publishing
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 129 mm
Thickness: 21 mm
Weight
422 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-09-953198-2 (9780099531982)
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
D.J. Taylor was born in Norwich in 1960. He is a novelist, critic and acclaimed biographer, whose biography of Thackeray was a critically-acclaimed success and whose Orwell: The Life won the Whitbread Biography prize in 2003. His most recent books are Kept: A Victorian Mystery (a Publishers Weekly Book of the Year) and Derby Day: A Victorian Mystery. He is also the author of Bright Young People: The Rise and Fall of a Generation 1918-1940, and the novel At the Chime of a City Clock.