In between novels, hollinghurst spends most of his time working on the next one, slowlywhichever book will follow the strangers child still hasnt been announced. Oct 05, 2017 the sparsholt affair is a sweeping and intimate masterpiece, full of sensual pleasures and observational wisdom. There are many models of beauty and as old saying goes beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Alan hollinghurst audio books, best sellers, author bio.
While there valance writes a poem entitled two acres, about the sawles house and addressed, ambiguously, either to george himself. His novels are pageturners, though in no slickly commercial sense. The main characters of this fiction, lgbt story are. Alan hollinghurst lives on a street of semidetached redbrick houses at the edge of hampstead heath, the eighthundredacre park in northern london. The booker prize winning british author alan hollinghurst has chronicled wealth and controversy at the heart of the establishment during the aids panic of the 1980s, in his book. He employs a similar structure in his new novel, the sparsholt affair, another multigenerational saga, this time focusing on the sparsholts and the effect a highly public midcentury scandal has. Books by alan hollinghurst author of the line of beauty. The fictional scandal named in the title of alan hollinghurst s new novel. Should i expect to find hollinghurst next to gertrude. Geoff dyer alan hollinghursts the sparsholt affair is startling, radical, embedded in tradition but entirely new in final effect the novel that other novelists were all talking about this year. But later novels, including the folding star 1994 and this years the strangers child, are in part pastoral reveries that gesture back to his semirural english. Alan hollinghurst biography life, story, history, mother. By the line of beauty 2004, his fourth book, hollinghurst was.
Discover more authors youll love listening to on audible. The calculations paid off, and after the judges summingup, one of the most biased and misleading in british legal history, thorpe and his three. Sixteenyearold daphne sawle is reading tennyson in a hammock in the garden of two acres, the family home in suburban london. Alan james hollinghurst frsl born 26 may 1954 is an english novelist, poet, short story writer and translator. The sparsholt affair is alan hollinghurst s sixth novel, and like his previous two the man booker prizewinning the line of beauty and, subsequently, the strangers child the story travels through a series of eras, capturing in each the nature of gay life in england. In alan hollinghursts latest, a hazy sex scandal looms over. Authors like alan hollinghurst what should i read next register for free to build your own book lists. Hollinghurst has a tendency to use dialogue too obviously to convey background information, but the jamesian elegance and psychological acuity of his previous novels grace the sparsholt affair as well. The book has been awarded with man booker prize 2004. Forster award of the american academy of arts and letters, and the.
In alan hollinghurst s latest, a hazy sex scandal looms over many lives. Pdf the line of beauty book by alan hollinghurst free. Books by alan hollinghurst authors like alan hollinghurst what should i read next. This time, hollinghurst introduces a quartet of gay men, led by alex, an operaloving civil servant. Alan hollinghurst books list of books by author alan. Discover book depositorys huge selection of alan hollinghurst books online. There is a classic definition of the line of beauty depicted by hogarth in his work analyse of beauty, its a sshaped double curve, though for nick, the main protagonist of alan hollinghurst novel, the perfect line of beauty creates delicate curve of lovers back. Two young men are attracted to a new man david sparsholt observed and encouraged by a fellow student, freddie green. The line of beauty is a 2004 man booker prize winning novel by alan hollinghurst. The success of the line of beauty meant that alan hollinghurst s next book was surely going to be eagerly anticipated. It opens at oxford university during world war 2 and follows a group of friends through the.
Called the first piece of gay fiction ever to win the honor, the story was also a sprawling and haunting elegy to the 1980s, wrote entertainment weekly critic jennifer reese. In his marvelous novel the strangers child, alan hollinghurst spanned the 20th century to tell the story of an enigmatic poem and its relevance to generations of one family. The next installment in the series comes from alan hollinghurst, the british writer who won the man booker prize for the line. Geoff dyer on the strangers child by alan hollinghurst. Much of the heath is lush and untamed, but hollinghurst s living room windows look out over the neatly mowed fields at the foot of parliament hill. Mar 12, 2018 in alan hollinghursts latest, a hazy sex scandal looms over many lives.
Alan hollinghurst is an english novelist, and winner of the 2004 booker prize for the line of beauty. The sparsholt affair finds truth somewhere between satire and sentiment novelist alan hollinghurst s latest chronicles changing attitudes towards. The sparsholt affair confirms alan hollinghursts status. The folding star was, in my opinion, one of the best books i have ever read. Alan hollinghurst s most popular book is the line of beauty. In alan hollinghursts latest, a hazy sex scandal looms.
The line of beauty, winner of the 2004 man booker prize and a finalist for the national book critics circle award. The sparsholt affair by alan hollinghurst pan macmillan. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 1989 somerset maugham award, the 1994 james tait black memorial prize and the 2004 booker prize. The book moves from johnnys experiences in raffish 1970s london to the citys turnofthemillennium rave scene. Months back, when i heard that alan hollinghursts new novel was finally being printed and bound, i priced out flights to englandand then i. As he publishes his new novel, the booker prize winner explains why he is looking back to an era before the sexual offences act. Dec 20, 2017 famous writers on where they get their ideas. The sparsholt affair confirms alan hollinghurst s status as a literary master hollinghurst s new domestic epic leapfrogs across seven decades to examine how the laws of social propriety shape. Laura miller, alex barasch, and gabriel roth discuss the new novel by alan hollinghurst, the sparsholt affair, a multigenerational saga about gay life. Almost immediately he falls in love with one of his.
Alan hollinghurst has 29 books on goodreads with 109507 ratings. The novel is set in britain in three parts, taking place in 1983, 1986 and 1987. From the hosts and producers of the show, thanks for listening. The sparsholt affair finds truth somewhere between. Alan hollinghurst is the author of the novels the swimmingpool library. Alan hollinghurst is the author of five novels, the swimmingpool library, the folding star, the spell, the line of beauty and the strangers child. He read english at magdalen college, oxford graduating in 1975. Daphne sawle, a key figure in the book, whom we follow from a poetically. The book was published in multiple languages including english, consists of 438 pages and is available in paperback format. He has received the somerset maugham award, the james tait black memorial prize. Jul 28, 2011 after finishing the line of beauty, his 2004 booker prizewinning novel, alan hollinghurst was determined not to write another long novel, and planned to write a book of short stories instead. Certainly the swimming pool library and my next book, the folding star, the model for. Rather, readers are guided, even at times flattered, by a fine sensibility. The sparsholt affair by alan hollinghurst begins in the 1940s at oxford university.
Oct 12, 2017 mariella frostrup talks to alan hollinghurst about his much anticipated new novel the sparsholt affair. The next installment in the series comes from alan hollinghurst, the british writer who won the man booker prize for the line of beauty in 2004. Stephen smith meets booker prize winning author alan. Peter bessell, once thorpes closest ally, and andrew newton, the comic book incompetent hired to carry out the killing. The sparsholt affair by alan hollinghurst booksamillion. Author alan hollinghurst sat down at esquire townhouse to talk with editorinchief alex bilmes about the 10 books that shaped his life. Free download or read online the line of beauty pdf epub book.
Alan hollinghurst on the books that have shaped his life. What alan hollinghurst taught me about truth one of the problems of the literary world is the treadmill. The next installment in the series comes from alan hollinghurst, the british writer who won the man booker prize for the line of beauty in. I found myself trying while reading much of the book, to waken hollinghurst from this diligent slumber by. The sparsholt affair is alan hollinghursts sixth novel, and like his previous two the man booker prizewinning the line of beauty and, subsequently, the strangers child the story travels through a series of eras, capturing in each the nature of gay life in england. The fictional scandal named in the title of alan hollinghursts new novel. The sparsholt affair by alan hollinghurst the work of a. He has received the somerset maugham award, the james tait black memorial prize for fiction and. The sparsholt affair is the longawaited sixth novel from the supreme stylist of british fiction and previous winner of the man booker prize. Much of the heath is lush and untamed, but hollinghursts living room windows look out over the neatly mowed fields at the foot of parliament hill.
The writing is smooth and flawless, and the everything was beautifully and carefully constructed. The strangers child is alan hollinghurst s masterpiece, the book that cements his position as one of the finest novelists of our time. British novelist alan hollinghurst won the prestigious man booker prize for fiction in 2004 for his fourth novel, the line of beauty. He has received the somerset maugham award, the james tait black memorial prize for fiction and the 2004 man booker prize. Again and again, under various guises, his books explore lines of descent in the form of hidden knowledge. The character of this man and his companions is brilliantly drawn so that we know and are avid to find out how those friendships develop. The first edition of the novel was published in 2004, and was written by alan hollinghurst. What alan hollinghurst taught me about truth unherd. Alan hollinghurst was born in stroud in gloucestershire, england in 1954 and was educated at magdalen college, oxford. Books by alan hollinghurst authors like alan hollinghurst what should i read next register for free to build your own book lists. The seasonal read this topic has been closed to new. The story surrounds the young gay protagonist, nick guest. But the sevenyear wait for the strangers child and the steady unfurling. Oct 01, 2004 a violent surfacing of adolescence which has little in common with tarkingtons earlier, broadly comic, seventeen has a compulsive impact.
Nobody big except me is the dream world of holden caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab english of the precollegiate. The fictional scandal named in the title of alan hollinghursts new novel, the sparsholt affair, involves a minister of parliament, political. Stephen king, john irving, alan hollinghurst duration. He has received the somerset maugham award and the james tait black memorial prize. Alan hollinghurst is among britains most highlyrated literary novelists, whose bestknown book the line of beauty 2004, winner of that years man booker prize, is a tourdeforce envisioning of the thatcher years as an era of doomed romance. That, at least, would be one way to describe these works. The write channel with nicola monaghan 23,117 views. Alan hollinghurst s hypnotic and exquisitely written novel tells the story of edward manners, a disaffected 33yearold who leaves england to earn his living as a language tutor in a flemish city. Alan hollinghurst on the genius of penelope fitzgerald. Sensibility overwhelms narrative in this story of homoerotic obsession, a second novel from the british hollinghurst the swimmingpool library, 1988.
From oxford during the dark days of the second world war to contemporary london, this is a masterly novel about sexuality, art and. Oct 27, 20 alan hollinghurst on the genius of penelope fitzgerald in offshore, penelope fitzgerald was inspired by the most difficult years of her own life, writes alan hollinghurst. O ne line from alan hollinghurst s new book, the strangers child, is lodged in my head as i arrive at his hampstead flat. In alan hollinghurst s latest, the sparsholt affair, the handsome david sparsholt befriends a group of contemporaries as they embark on their first term at oxford in 1940. In 1995, hollinghurst was finally able to devote himself full time to writing after he left the times literary supplement. The swimming pool library, the folding star, the spell, the line of beauty, and the strangers child. The sparsholt affair by alan hollinghurst, paperback. He next produced the spell in 1998, which was shortlisted for another leading british honor, the guardian fiction prize.
The strangers child is alan hollinghursts masterpiece, the book that cements his position as one of the finest novelists of our time. The line of beauty, winner of the 2004 man booker prize. Jun 17, 2011 o ne line from alan hollinghursts new book, the strangers child, is lodged in my head as i arrive at his hampstead flat. The strangers child june 2011 is the fifth novel by alan hollinghurst. This stunning psychological drama takes place in an atmosphere of frank homoeroticism, utterly without inhibition or taboo alain guiraudies linconnu du lac, or stranger by the lake, is a stunning, confrontationally explicit psychological drama set at a french lakeside cruising spot for gay men. Alan hollinghurst is the author of the novels the strangers child, the swimmingpool library, the folding star, the spell, and the line of beauty, which won the man booker prize and was a finalist for the national book critics circle award. In 19 he visits a cambridge friend, george sawle, at the latters home in stanmore, middlesex. Books by alan hollinghurst authors like alan hollinghurst. This is a moving work from one of modern literatures finest authors. Feb 02, 2018 in alan hollinghursts latest, the sparsholt affair, the handsome david sparsholt befriends a group of contemporaries as they embark on their first term at oxford in 1940. The book tells the story of a minor poet, cecil valance, who is killed in the first world war. Alan hollinghurst author of the line of beauty goodreads. Sep 25, 2017 this is a book about gay life, about art, about family, but most of all its about the remorseless passage of time.
The book moves from johnnys experiences in raffish 1970s london to the citys turnof. Thriftbooks sells millions of used books at the lowest everyday prices. This is a book about gay life, about art, about family, but most of all its about the remorseless passage of time. Alan hollinghurst s new novel traces a war poets legacy. We personally assess every book s quality and offer rare, outofprint treasures. The campaign to keep the artists dungeness chalet for. Browse alan hollinghursts bestselling audiobooks and newest titles. For the television adaptation, see the line of beauty miniseries. Almost immediately he falls in love with one of his pupils, but can only console himself with other, illicit affairs. He was on the staff of the times literary supplement from 1982 to 1995. Sep 30, 2011 the success of the line of beauty meant that alan hollinghursts next book was surely going to be eagerly anticipated. Despite the fact that this book is about a controversial topic, homosexuality, i believe that it should be judged by its quality, which is outstanding. Alan hollinghurst talks about the strangers child on bookbits radio. Alan hollinghursts new gaygenerationgap novel vulture.