The Last Word by Mark Illis

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The Last Word by Mark Illis

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Summary

Two spiky oddballs are forced together by circumstances, get tangled in a mystery and spin off in unexpected directions. Death and sexual tension are at the heart of this novel, which takes readers to a surprise ending.

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The Last Word by Mark Illis

Shortlisted for the Portico Prize 2012. Gloria, meet Stephen. He’s your dead brother’s best friend. He’s also a liar, and he doesn’t want to hand over your brother’s belongings. He’s got a hair collection, and he’s got somebody’s teeth hidden in a drawer. An inconvenient spider’s going to play a crucial part in your relationship. Oh yes, and someone – God knows who – is sending him letters claiming it’s his fault Max is dead. Stephen, meet Gloria. She’s not good with people. She wants you to hand over all Max’s most precious stuff. She likes to steal things, she gate-crashes funerals, she’s going to force you to revisit some of the most painful moments in your life. And she doesn’t know who’s writing the weird letters you’re getting, but she tends to agree – she thinks it might be your fault her brother killed himself. Oh yes, and it’s down to her that you’re going to wind up in hospital, and all over the papers. Well, the Scarborough papers anyway. On the plus side – you might get to sleep with her. You’re going to be together for one strange, eventful and occasionally horrifying week so … good luck.

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On Tender: Illis has an engaging style and his prose is vivid and inventively colloquial

-- Times Literary Supplement

On Tender: Tender can mean loving. But in this coolly observed, meticulously crafted family drama, one is reminded that it also means damaged, and acutely vulnerable to further hurt.

-- The Independent

... this is an engaging novel of flawed and vulnerable individuals edging towards each other, and away again, in a lobster quadrille of tentativeness.

-- Jane Housham * The Guardian *
Mark Illis had three novels published by Bloomsbury before he was 30. He’s now one of Salt’s best-selling authors. He’s been writing for TV for 15 years and has had several radio plays broadcast.His stories have been published in many magazines and anthologies. Born in London, he now lives in West Yorkshire with his wife and two children.
SKU Unavailable
ISBN 13 9781907773099
ISBN 10 1907773096
Title The Last Word
Author Mark Illis
Condition Unavailable
Binding Type Paperback
Publisher Salt Publishing
Year published 2011-11-22
Number of pages 184
Prizes Short-listed for The Portico Prize 2012 (UK)
Cover note Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.