Description
England, in the mid-fifties. Meg Bailey has always aspired to live a respectable life. With her best friend, Roxane, she moves from secondary school to an un-bohemian art college in Oxford. Under the watchful eye of Roxanne's mother, Mrs Wheeler, the two girls flourish in Oxfordian society. But Meg constantly longs for more. Not content to stay in Oxford, she finds a job in London. Roxane stays behind and marries Dick, a man of Mrs Wheeler's choosing. As Meg's independence grows, Dick suddenly appears in London for work. A connection to her past, Meg and Dick's friendship flourishes, blurring the lines of loyalty between what is and what was in a way that changes life for these three friends forever. As sharp and starling now as when it was written, this unflinching and candid book of love and betrayal encapsulates Diana Athill's gift of storytelling at its finest.
From the author of Somewhere Towards the End and Stet, the late great Diana Athill's only novel, about love, betrayal and a young woman finding oneself in 1950s London.
About the Author
DIANA ATHILL was born in 1917. She helped Andre Deutsch establish the publishing company that bore his name and worked as an editor for Deutsch for four decades. Athill's distinguished career as an editor is the subject of her acclaimed memoir Stet (Granta Books, 2011), along with five further volumes of memoirs, Instead of a Letter, After a Funeral, Yesterday Morning, Make Believe, Somewhere Towards the End, a novel, Don't Look at Me Like That, and a collection of letters, Instead of a Book. In January 2009, she won the Costa Biography Award for Somewhere Towards the End, and was presented with an OBE. She died in January 2019.
Reviews
[The writing] shows [Athill's] editor's eye... This novel shows not so much that Athill should have written more fiction - we wouldn't want to be without those memoirs - but that she could * Guardian *
Don't Look at Me Like That evokes a London of rain; grimy bedsits, plush, hushed restaurants, illicitness and despair...Athill skilfully blends diffidence and pathos to produce a story at once all-too familiar and unique -- Catherine Taylor
Athill is wonderful - always aware of the need to entertain and beguile her reader ... Fascinating and surprising -- Daisy Goodwin * Sunday Times *
A tale of love and betrayal * Monocle *
A short, sharp shock... beautifully observed... nuanced and true... Don't Look At Me Like That deserves to become a classic of bedsit lit... spare and unsparing... I loved this book. Meg fascinates... Read this book in your teens and twenties, and think: "Oh god, that's me." Read it later and think: "Thank god, that's over" * Times *
Diana Athill was a force for good in the world of books, a champion for women wanting to make their own way, unconfined by the pressures of society. Her openness and honesty made readers feel that they were truly seen and understood; that our lives might just be as remarkable as hers -- Erica Wagner * Harper's Bazaar *
Book Information
ISBN 9781783785803
Author Diana Athill
Format Paperback
Page Count 192
Imprint Granta Books
Publisher Granta Books
Weight(grams) 138g
Dimensions(mm) 200mm * 130mm * 17mm
From the author of Somewhere Towards the End and Stet, the late great Diana Athill's only novel, about love, betrayal and a young woman finding oneself in 1950s London.
About the Author
DIANA ATHILL was born in 1917. She helped Andre Deutsch establish the publishing company that bore his name and worked as an editor for Deutsch for four decades. Athill's distinguished career as an editor is the subject of her acclaimed memoir Stet (Granta Books, 2011), along with five further volumes of memoirs, Instead of a Letter, After a Funeral, Yesterday Morning, Make Believe, Somewhere Towards the End, a novel, Don't Look at Me Like That, and a collection of letters, Instead of a Book. In January 2009, she won the Costa Biography Award for Somewhere Towards the End, and was presented with an OBE. She died in January 2019.
Reviews
[The writing] shows [Athill's] editor's eye... This novel shows not so much that Athill should have written more fiction - we wouldn't want to be without those memoirs - but that she could * Guardian *
Don't Look at Me Like That evokes a London of rain; grimy bedsits, plush, hushed restaurants, illicitness and despair...Athill skilfully blends diffidence and pathos to produce a story at once all-too familiar and unique -- Catherine Taylor
Athill is wonderful - always aware of the need to entertain and beguile her reader ... Fascinating and surprising -- Daisy Goodwin * Sunday Times *
A tale of love and betrayal * Monocle *
A short, sharp shock... beautifully observed... nuanced and true... Don't Look At Me Like That deserves to become a classic of bedsit lit... spare and unsparing... I loved this book. Meg fascinates... Read this book in your teens and twenties, and think: "Oh god, that's me." Read it later and think: "Thank god, that's over" * Times *
Diana Athill was a force for good in the world of books, a champion for women wanting to make their own way, unconfined by the pressures of society. Her openness and honesty made readers feel that they were truly seen and understood; that our lives might just be as remarkable as hers -- Erica Wagner * Harper's Bazaar *
Book Information
ISBN 9781783785803
Author Diana Athill
Format Paperback
Page Count 192
Imprint Granta Books
Publisher Granta Books
Weight(grams) 138g
Dimensions(mm) 200mm * 130mm * 17mm
