Oxygen by Andrew Miller
In a house in the English countryside a woman in her sixties, Alice, is dying. In the garden, her younger son is working on the translation of a play by a celebrated Hungarian playwright, Lazlo Lazar. In San Francisco, Alice's other son, a one time soap actor and now heavily in debt, is on his way to a meeting with a pornographic film producer. And in Vienna, Lazlo Lazar is having supper with his lover, Kurt, and an American painter, discussing action, courage and the revolutions of 1956 and 68. Each of these characters will soon face a test of courage. Each will be forced to take part in an act of liberation - though not necessarily the one they foresaw. Naturally, there are certain coloured pills, a revolver, and a child who cannot be trusted as the summer of 97, the summer of the comet, reaches its surprising conclusion.
"Casanova - 'I was absolutely captivated by it.. There's no trickery here, but superb craftmanship, combined with real feeling. I wish I'd written it' Hilary Mantel, Sunday Times; 'I was thoroughly amused, stimulated, entertained and instructed by the whole book... I don't think I've read anything which has brought 18th-century London so powerfully to life... brilliantly acute' Jonathan Coe; 'Miller's prose is jewelled; the heritage details - clothes, streets, interiors - have a haunting, graphic sheen... an elegant, elegiac meditation on the death of purpose' TLS; 'resonant of time and place while remaining fresh and modern... He captures brilliantly the downfall and partial redemption of this charming isolate' The Times
Andrew Miller was born in Bristol in 1960 and grew up in the West Country. He has lived in Spain, Japan, Ireland and France, but currently lives near Brighton. His first novel, INGENIOUS PAIN, was published by Sceptre in 1997 and won the James Tait Black Memorial Award for Fiction, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and the Grinzane Cavour prize in Italy. His second novel, CASANOVA, met with similar acclaim on its publication in 1998, and both books are being adapted for film.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780340728253 |
| ISBN 10 | 0340728256 |
| Title | Oxygen |
| Author | Andrew Miller |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Hodder & Stoughton |
| Year published | 2001-09-06 |
| Number of pages | 336 |
| Prizes | Short-listed for Whitbread Book Awards: Novel Category 2001, Short-listed for Whitbread Prize (Novel) 2001, Short-listed for Booker Prize for Fiction 2001 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |