Josh Lawton by Melvyn Bragg
An enchanting love story and a portrayal of innocence brutally curtailed by the prize-winning, bestselling author Melvyn Bragg
Every scene is clear, every character immediately recognisable. . brilliant * Daily Telegraph *
The book is exciting . . . a pleasure to be remembered * Financial Times *
It has the lilt and inevitability of an old ballad . . . [He] skilfully portrays the friendships and antagonisms in rural Cumberland, a territory he has staked out as his own -- Paul Theroux * The Times *
With this novel, Melvyn Bragg has established his place in English letters to the extent that his Cumbria is as potent a literary region as Hardy's Wessex, Lawrence's Midlands and Housman's Shropshire * New Statesman *
Beautifully told . . .the story unfolds with admirable simplicity . . . even the most brutal and inarticulate characters somehow manage to engage our sympathies * Spectator *
An effortless writer. He never strains for effect, simply achieves it * Sunday Times *
Nothing is harder to convey in fiction than the idea of simple goodness without it appearing soppy or naïve. But Melvyn Bragg succeeds. * Evening Standard *
As he demonstrates yet again in Josh Lawton, Melvyn Bragg has a rare ability to communicate both happiness and goodness * Sunday Telegraph *
[Bragg] is a poetic eye, a visionary of sorts. * Guardian *
The pleasure to be had from this book is that of feeling, without having been exposed to any lies or romantic evasions, that the world is perhaps a better place that one had thought * Sunday Times *
A nearly perfect work of art. Within the confines of craggy Cumberland, Bragg brings to life a handful of people, exposes the violence and brutality of British rural life and does it with a skill and sincerity unmatched since D. H. Lawrence. * Newsday *
The book is exciting . . . a pleasure to be remembered * Financial Times *
It has the lilt and inevitability of an old ballad . . . [He] skilfully portrays the friendships and antagonisms in rural Cumberland, a territory he has staked out as his own -- Paul Theroux * The Times *
With this novel, Melvyn Bragg has established his place in English letters to the extent that his Cumbria is as potent a literary region as Hardy's Wessex, Lawrence's Midlands and Housman's Shropshire * New Statesman *
Beautifully told . . .the story unfolds with admirable simplicity . . . even the most brutal and inarticulate characters somehow manage to engage our sympathies * Spectator *
An effortless writer. He never strains for effect, simply achieves it * Sunday Times *
Nothing is harder to convey in fiction than the idea of simple goodness without it appearing soppy or naïve. But Melvyn Bragg succeeds. * Evening Standard *
As he demonstrates yet again in Josh Lawton, Melvyn Bragg has a rare ability to communicate both happiness and goodness * Sunday Telegraph *
[Bragg] is a poetic eye, a visionary of sorts. * Guardian *
The pleasure to be had from this book is that of feeling, without having been exposed to any lies or romantic evasions, that the world is perhaps a better place that one had thought * Sunday Times *
A nearly perfect work of art. Within the confines of craggy Cumberland, Bragg brings to life a handful of people, exposes the violence and brutality of British rural life and does it with a skill and sincerity unmatched since D. H. Lawrence. * Newsday *
Melvyn Bragg was born in Wigton, Cumbria, in 1939. He went to the local Grammar School and then to Wadham College, Oxford. He joined the BBC in 1961, and published his first novel, For Want of a Nail, in 1965.
He left the BBC and continued to write novels which include The Soldier's Return (WH Smith Literary Award), Without a City Wall (Mail on Sunday John Llewellyn Rhys Prize) and Now Is the Time (Parliamentary Book Award 2016). A Place in England, Son of War and Crossing the Lines were all nominated for the Booker Prize. His non-fiction includes The Adventure of English and The Book of Books, and his first memoir, Back in the Day, was published in 2022 to critical acclaim.
He edited and presented The South Bank Show from 1977 and hosted the BBC Radio 4 programme In Our Time from 1998. He has now retired from both. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society and of The British Academy. He was given a Peerage in 1998 and a Companion of Honour in 2017.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780340494806 |
| ISBN 10 | 0340494808 |
| Title | Josh Lawton |
| Author | Melvyn Bragg |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Hodder & Stoughton |
| Year published | 1989-03-01 |
| Number of pages | 224 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |