The Means of Escape by Penelope Fitzgerald

The Means of Escape by Penelope Fitzgerald

A collection of Penelope Fitzgerald’s short stories. Penelope Fitzgerald was one of the most highly-regarded writers on the English literary scene. Apart from Iris Murdoch, no other writer has been shortlisted so many times for the Booker. Her last novel, ‘The Blue Flower’, was the book of its year, garnering extraordinary acclaim in Britain, America and Europe. This superb collection of stories, originally published in anthologies and newspapers, shows Penelope Fitzgerald at her very best. From the tale of a young boy in 17-century England who loses a precious keepsake and finds it frozen in a puddle of ice, to that of a group of buffoonish amateur Victorian painters on a trip to Brittany, these stories are characteristically wide ranging, enigmatic and very funny. They are each miniature studies of the endless absurdity of human behaviour.

‘Of all the novelists in English in the last quarter-century, she has the most inarguable claim on greatnessThis is a small book, probably not above 25,000 words, but a remarkably rich one. It sets the seal on a career we, as readers, can only count ourselves lucky to have lived through.’ Philip Hensher, Spectator

‘So readable, so sharply tender, at the top of her form.’ Adam Mars-Jones, Observer

‘As succinct, droll and individual as Fitzgerald has, over the years, given us every right to expect.’ Sunday Times

‘Luminous, dark, unflinching.’ Hermione Lee, TLS

‘Eight masterpieces, polished and perfect, and with such mesmerising characters that each story is equal to any novel.’ Polly Samson, Independent ‘Books of the Year’

Penelope Fitzgerald was one of the most elegant and distinctive voices in British fiction. Three of her novels, The Bookshop, The Beginning of Spring and The Gate of Angels have been shortlisted for the Booker Prize. She won the Prize in 1979 for Offshore. Her last novel, The Blue Flower, was the most admired novel of 1995, chosen no fewer than nineteen times in the press as the ‘Book of the Year’. It won America’s National Book Critics’ Circle Award, and this helped to introduce her to a wider international readership. She died in April 2000, at the age of eighty-three.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780007105014
ISBN 10	0007105010
Title	The Means of Escape
Author	Penelope Fitzgerald
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	HarperCollins Publishers
Year published	2001-10-15
Number of pages	176
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable