Friday, July 02, 2010

Which was Dame Beryl's greatest novel?

The sad news that the grande dame of British literature, Dame Beryl Bainbridge, died this morning aged 75 has sparked a debate on the Guardian website about which was her greatest novel.

I have to agree with the first person who has commented on her Lasting Tribute page that for me it is An Awfully Big Adventure, the 1989 novel made into a film in 1995 starring Alan Rickman and Hugh Grant thereby bringing her writing to a new audience.

It reached the Booker Prize shortlist, as did four others - The Dressmaker (1973), The Bottle Factory Outing (1974), Every Man for Himself (1996) and Master Georgie (1998). Sadly none of them made it.

But she did deservedly win The Whitbread Novel Award twice, in 1977 and 1996, and the Guardian fiction prize.

In 2008 the Times newspaper named Dame Beryl among their list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".

No comments:

Post a Comment