The Pools by Bethan Roberts
Middle England, mid-1980s. The kind of place where nothing ever happens. Except something has happened. A fifteen year old boy called Robert has been killed, down by the pools. And half a dozen lives will come unravelled. There's Kathryn and Howard, Rob's parents. Kath has been making the best of her second marriage after the love of her life died young. Howard has been clinging onto a family life he hardly expected to have. There's Joanna, the teen queen of nowheresville. She's been looking for a way out, escape from her parents' broken marriage. She thought Rob might take her away from all this, but lately she?s started to think Rob might have other plans. And then there's Shane, with the big hands and the fixation on Joanna. Bethan Roberts' strikingly assured debut novel subtly reveals the tensions and terrors that underpin apparently ordinary lives, and can lead them to spiral suddenly out of control.
Haunting, menacing.. the vivid portrayals of adolescent sexuality paint a tense and evocative story -- Ben Myers * Shortlist *
Roberts does a fine job of evoking the arrival of partially unwelcome adulthood and a vague sense of menace * Observer *
An assured and macabre debut -- Elizabeth Lowry * Guardian *
Roberts does a fine job of evoking the arrival of partially unwelcome adulthood and a vague sense of menace * Observer *
An assured and macabre debut -- Elizabeth Lowry * Guardian *
Bethan Roberts was born in Oxford and brought up in nearby Abingdon. She has MAs from Sussex and Chichester universities and teaches creative writing at Chichester and for the Open University. Roberts was awarded a Jerwood/Arvon Young Writers' Prize for The Pools.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781846686511 |
| ISBN 10 | 1846686512 |
| Title | The Pools |
| Author | Bethan Roberts |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Profile Books Ltd |
| Year published | 2008-07-03 |
| Number of pages | 304 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |