In 1959,when there was no fish and chips in Hardborough,no launderette,no cinema except on alternate Saturday nights,the need of these things was felt,but no one had considered,certainly had not thought of Mrs Green as considering,the opening of a bookshop.
When Mrs Florence Green,a'small,wispy and wiry woman'decides to open a bookshop in the small Suffolk town of Hardborough she has no idea of the force of opposition that will ensue.
In attempting to challenge a seemingly sleepy and indeterminate status quo,in her own quiet way,Florence uncovers an undercurrent of tenacious resentment against her small project. The complex webs of small-town community close in around her as those with minor influence seek to hold sway.
Penelope Fitzgerald's fiction is at its best when illuminating the lives of outsiders,outcasts,the misunderstood,the hopeful; the flotsam and jetsam often destined to be left behind. Nowhere is her keen eye for human frailty better exemplified than in the Booker Prize shortlisted novel,The Bookshop,a subtle blend of poignancy and humour,a masterclass in modern tragicomedy.
'A gem,a vintage narrative... a classic whose force has not merely lasted but has actually improved in the passage of years'- New York Times
Publisher: HarperCollins PublishersISBN: 9780006543541Number of pages: 176Weight: 130 gDimensions: 198 x 129 x 11 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
'Reading a Penelope Fitzgerald novel is like being taken for a ride in a peculiar kind of car. Everything is of top quality - the engine,the coachwork and the interior all fill you with confidence. Then,after a mile or so,someone throws the steering-wheel out of the window.'- Sebastian Faulks
'Wise and ironic,funny and humane,Fitzgerald is a wonderful,wonderful writer.'- David Nicholls
'Its stylishness,and this low-voiced lack of emphasis are a pleasure throughout,its moral and human positions invariably sympathetic. But it is astringent too: no self-pity in its self-effacing heroine,who in a world of let-downs and put-downs and poltergeists,keeps her spirit bright and her book-stock miraculously dry in the damp,seeping East Anglian landscape.'- Isabel Quigley,Financial Times
'Penelope Fitzgerald's resources of odd people are impressively rich. Raven,the marshman,who ropes Florence in to hang on to an old horse's tongue while he files the teeth; old Brundish,secretive as a badger,slow as a gorse bush. And this is not just a gallery of quirky still lives; these people appear in vignettes,wryly,even comically animated...On any reckoning,a marvellously piercing fiction.'- Valentine Cunningham,TLS
Penelope Fitzgerald
Described by the Guardian as,'one the most distinctive and elegant voices in contemporary British fiction',Penelope Fitzgerald was one of the twentieth-century's most acclaimed British novelists. Her works include: The Bookshop,The Beginning of Spring,The Gate of Angels,Offshore and The Blue Flower.
Visit the Penelope Fitzgerald author pageDavid Nicholls
A bestselling novelist and BAFTA-nominated screenwriter British author David Nicholls is best-known for the globally bestselling love story One Day. His other novels include Starter for Ten,The Understudy and Us.
Visit the David Nicholls author page
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