Reading Beryl

BBRW-2016-2In June 2012, I hosted a Beryl Bainbridge Reading Week.  It was a great success and I started this page to keep a record of all the reviews from the final round-up post and beyond and also to chart my own continuing progress in reading all of her books…

Then I did it again in 2016.  The wrap-up post from BBRW 2 is here.

*** Newsflash*** And coming in November 2023 from 18-26, enveloping her birthdate on the 21st will be the third Reading Beryl week.

Here’s Beryl’s bibliography with review links, in chronological-ish order.

Harriet Said (1972)

Two schoolgirls are on holiday in a Northern resort. One becomes interested in an unhappily married, middle-aged man. She and her friend Harriet begin a plot to humiliate him. But their fantasy merges into reality, with shocking and unexpected results.

Reviewed by: Seamus at Vapour Trails, Harriet Devine, Dolce Bellezza, Annabel, Juliana at The Blank Garden, Short Book & Scribes

The Dressmaker (1973)

Titled The Secret Glass in the USA, it gained her first Booker shortlist nomination.  Set in wartime Liverpool, Rita falls in love with Ira, a GI. Her aunts Nellie and Margo aren’t convinced though. Billed as darkly comic.

Reviewed by: Alex in Leeds; Fleurfisher, Chris at the Book Trunk

The Bottle Factory Outing (1974)

Won the Guardian fiction prize and achieved a 2nd Booker shortlisting. Brenda and Freda work for an Italian wine importer and are organising a works outing – it’s all going to go wrong.  Complex, very black comedy, superb (my favourite).

Reviewed by:  Ali at Heavenali, Skiourophile, Sophia at Page Plucker, Harriet Devine, Annabel, Simon at Stuck in a Book, Cathy at 746 Books, Sarah at Hard Book Habit, Guy Savage, Max Cairnduff, Karen at Bookertalk.

Sweet William(1975)  

Ann throws over her fiancé Gerald for William – a serial womaniser. Can’t live with him, can’t live without him – what is she to do?  Very funny.

Reviewed by: Simon T at Stuck in a book, Annabel, Fleur Fisher, Harriet

A Quiet Life(1976)  

A post-war family drama set in the 1950s – Everyone in Alan’s family has something to hide, they’re all hanging on in quiet desperation, to quote Pink Floyd. Turns out this one is very autobiographical.

Reviewed by: Margaret at Books Please, Annabel, Hayley at Desperate Reader, Jane at Fleur Fisher in Her World,  Heaven Ali, Chris at the Book Trunk

Injury Time(1977)  

Edward is throwing a dinner party with his mistress, Binny.  However, some unexpected people arrive and turn everything to chaos …  a painful comedy.

Reviewed by: Simon T at Stuck in a book, Stu at Winston’s Dad, Annabel

Young Adolf(1978)

A young Adolf Hitler turns up to stay with his brother in Liverpool.  Artist Adolf is a slacker who gets into trouble easily though – how will he turn out?  Sounds like Beryl is at her wickedest in this novel of high farce!

Another Part of the Wood(1968, revised 1979)

Her second novel, but revised and republished in 1979.  Joseph takes his mistress, son and some friends to stay in a cabin in deepest Wales for the weekend.  It won’t work, will it?!

Reviewed by: Annabel here

Winter Garden(1980)

Douglas takes a mistress, Nina, but soon he’s not able to cope with being an adulterer.  Telling his wife needs a break, she packs him off fishing in the Highlands, but instead he goes to Moscow with Nina.  Uh-Oh! Things will go wrong…

Reviewed by: Annabel here

A Weekend with Claude(1967, revised 1981)

Another early novel revised and republished. A weekend in the country goes very wrong and ends up with someone being shot.

Reviewed by: Annabel here, Ali at Heavenali, Seamus at Vapour Trails

Watson’s Apology(1984)

The first of Beryl’s historical novels, this book recounts the story of a clergyman who, in 1851, bludgeoned his wife to death.  Based on a real case, she presents a portrait of how this terrible crime might have come to happen.

Reviewed by: Heaven Ali

Filthy Lucre(1946, pub 1986).

Next a piece of Juvenalia written when she was a teenager.  Subtitled The tragedy of Ernest Ledwhistle and Richard Soleway: A story, it’s a short novel inspired by Dickens and Treasure Island.

Reviewed by: Simon S from Savidge Reads, Jane at Beyond Eden Rock

An Awfully Big Adventure(1989)

A third shortlisting for the Booker Prize.  Set in 1950 and following the rehearsals for a Christmas production of Peter Pan, this novel follows the coming of age of young Asst Stage Manager Stella, and her relationships with the director Meredith, and the actor playing Hook. A bittersweet tale of innocence and loss.

Reviewed by:  Harriet Devine, David H at Follow the Thread, Geranium Cat, Chris at The Book Trunk, Margaret at Books Please,  Jacquiwine, Cleo Loves Books

The Birthday Boys(1991)

Bainbridge tells the story of Scott’s final push to the South Pole. The five men each take a turn in telling the story, each putting their stamp on the narrative. Masterful – I loved it.

Reviewed by:  Annabel from my archive, Margaret at Books Please

Every Man For Himself(1996)

Winner of the Whitbread Novel Prize, and Beryl’s fourth Booker shortlisting.  It tells the fateful story of the Titanic through the eyes of Morgan, a rich young man related to the ship’s owner.  In concentrating on the first class characters, it paints a portrait of an insular group with an impressive array of vices.

Reviewed by: Alex in Leeds, Harriet Devine, Sophia at Page Plucker, Annabel here, Brona’s Books.

Master Georgie (1998)

Gaining a final fifth Booker shortlisting, this novel won the posthumous Booker ‘Best of Beryl’. It follows the story of a Liverpudlian doctor who heads for the Crimea for some excitement. His story is narrated by three different voices of those associated with him: an orphan devoted to her Master Georgie; his scholarly brother-in-law; and a street urchin who becomes George’s lover.

Reviewed by: Col at The Only Way Is Reading, Sophia at Page Plucker, Seamus at Vapour Trails

According to Queeney(2001)

Beryl brings the last years of great wit Samuel Johnson to life as see through the eyes of Queeney, the first born daughter of his mistress. We meet many other famous names of the period and explore Johnson’s relationship with his friend and benefactor Mrs Thrale.

Reviewed by: Chris at The Book Trunk, Harriet Devine, Harriet again (re-read)

The Girl in the Polka Dot Dress(2011)

Beryl’s last novel returns to the late 1960s after Martin Luther King’s assassination. It follows the story of Rose and a man called Washington Harold who travel across the USA in search of a man called Dr Wheeler – each having a need to find him – one benign, one less so.

Reviewed by: Kheenand at Booker Talk

Two collections of short stories are available:

Mum and Mr. Armitage: Selected Stories from 1985 – a collection of twelve tales that tend to be unsettling in their conclusions; and Collected Storiesfrom 1994. Later editions of this include Filthy Lucre amongst other additions.

And finally, briefly – on to Beryl’s non-fiction:

Other Beryl posts and links you must see: