Poor Things
Read the Extraordinary Book Behind the Award-Winning Film
1st Edition
Published on 11. September 2014
336 pages
978-1-4088-5632-1 (ISBN)
Description
WINNER OF FOUR ACADEMY AWARDS, FIVE BAFTAS, and TWO GOLDEN GLOBES. STARRING EMMA STONE, FROM THE DIRECTOR OF THE FAVOURITE
Winner of the Whitbread Novel Award and the Guardian Fiction Prize
A life without freedom to choose is not worth having.
Godwin Baxter's scientific ambition to create the perfect companion is realised when he finds the drowned body of the beautiful Bella, who he brings back to life in a Frankenstein-esque feat. But his dream is thwarted by Dr. Archibald McCandless's jealous love for his creation . . .
But what does Bella think?
This story of true love and scientific daring whirls the reader from the private operating-theatres of late-Victorian Glasgow through aristocratic casinos, low-life Alexandria and a Parisian bordello, reaching an interrupted climax in a Scottish church.
________________________
'A magnificently brisk, funny, dirty, brainy book' London Review of Books
'Visionary, ornate and outrageous' The Independent
'Witty and delightfully written' New York Times
'A brilliant marriage of technique, intelligence, and art.' Kirkus Reviews
'The greatest Scottish novelist since Sir Walter Scott' Anthony Burgess
'Those who, like me, are unsure if they are Alasdair Gray fans or not, ought to fall on Poor Things with delight, and not just because of the almost excessive beauty of its appearance' Philip Hensher, Spectator
Winner of the Whitbread Novel Award and the Guardian Fiction Prize
A life without freedom to choose is not worth having.
Godwin Baxter's scientific ambition to create the perfect companion is realised when he finds the drowned body of the beautiful Bella, who he brings back to life in a Frankenstein-esque feat. But his dream is thwarted by Dr. Archibald McCandless's jealous love for his creation . . .
But what does Bella think?
This story of true love and scientific daring whirls the reader from the private operating-theatres of late-Victorian Glasgow through aristocratic casinos, low-life Alexandria and a Parisian bordello, reaching an interrupted climax in a Scottish church.
________________________
'A magnificently brisk, funny, dirty, brainy book' London Review of Books
'Visionary, ornate and outrageous' The Independent
'Witty and delightfully written' New York Times
'A brilliant marriage of technique, intelligence, and art.' Kirkus Reviews
'The greatest Scottish novelist since Sir Walter Scott' Anthony Burgess
'Those who, like me, are unsure if they are Alasdair Gray fans or not, ought to fall on Poor Things with delight, and not just because of the almost excessive beauty of its appearance' Philip Hensher, Spectator
More details
Edition
1. Auflage
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
ISBN-13
978-1-4088-5632-1 (9781408856321)
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
Book
11/2002
1st Edition
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
€13.00
Available immediately
Person
Alasdair Gray won the the Whitbread and Guardian Awards for POOR THINGS. He is also the author of THE BOOK OF PREFACES, the story-collection, TEN TALES TALL AND TRUE, and the groundbreaking modern classic, LANARK.
Content
- Intro
- Cover
- Title page
- About the Author
- Dedication
- INTRODUCTION
- Portrait of the Author
- TABLE OF CONTENTS
- 1: MAKING ME
- 2: MAKING GODWIN BAXTER
- Mr. Godwin Baxter, from a portrait by Ajax MacGillicuddy R.S.A.
- 3: THE QUARREL
- 4: A FASCINATING STRANGER
- 5: MAKING BELLA BAXTER
- 6: BAXTER'S DREAM
- 7: BY THE FOUNTAIN
- Bella Baxter, from a photograph in The Daily Telegraph
- 8: THE ENGAGEMENT
- 9: AT THE WINDOW
- 10: WITHOUT BELLA
- 11: EIGHTEEN PARK CIRCUS
- WEDDERBURN'S LETTER
- 12: Making a Maniac
- Duncan Wedderburn
- 13: INTERMISSION
- BELLA BAXTER'S LETTER
- 14: Glasgow to Odessa: The Gamblers
- 15: Odessa to Alexandria: The Missionaries
- Facsimile of Bella Baxter's MS.
- 16: Alexandria to Gibraltar: Astley's Bitter Wisdom
- 17: Gibraltar to Paris: Wedderburn's Last Flight
- 18: Paris to Glasgow: The Return
- Count Robert de Montesquiou-Fezensac
- 19: MY SHORTEST CHAPTER
- 20: GOD ANSWERS
- 21: AN INTERRUPTION
- 22: THE TRUTH: MY LONGEST CHAPTER
- General Sir Aubrey de la Pole Blessington, Bart V.C., from the London Illustrated News
- Blaydon Hattersley from the profile on his wages tokens
- 23: BLESSINGTON'S LAST STAND
- 24: GOOD-BYE
- BY THE SAME AUTHOR
- eCopyright
