Learning to Talk: Short Stories by Hilary Mantel (English) Paperback Book

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In the wake of Hilary Mantel's memoir, this collection of loosely autobiographical stories locates the transforming moments of a haunted childhood.

FORMATPaperback LANGUAGEEnglish CONDITIONBrand New Publisher Description

A companion piece to the captivating memoir Giving Up the Ghost by the Man Booker-winning author of Wolf Hall, Bring Up the Bodies and The Mirror & the Light, this collection of loosely autobiographical stories locates the transforming moments of a haunted childhood.This sharp, funny collection of stories drawn from life begins in the 1950s in an insular northern village 'scoured by bitter winds and rough gossip tongues.' For the child narrator, the only way to survive is to get up, get on, get out.In 'King Billy is a Gentleman', the child must come to terms with the loss of a father and the puzzle of a fading Irish heritage. 'Curved Is the Line of Beauty' is a story of friendship, faith and a near-disaster in a scrap-yard. The title story sees our narrator ironing out her northern vowels with the help of an ex-actress with one lung and a Manchester accent. In 'Third Floor Rising', she watches, dazzled, as her mother carves out a stylish new identity.With a deceptively light touch, Mantel locates the transforming moments of a haunted childhood.

Notes

A collection of loosely autobiographical stories about a haunted childhood. They are published to coincide with their dramatisation on Radio 4's Woman's Hour. The author is a well known critic and was a judge at Granta 20 best of British.

Author Biography

Hilary Mantel is the author of fourteen books, including A Place Of Greater Safety, Beyond Black, the memoir Giving Up The Ghost, and the short-story collection The Assassination Of Margaret Thatcher. Her two most recent novels, Wolf Hall and its sequel Bring Up The Bodies, have both been awarded the Man Booker Prize - an unprecedented achievement.

Review

ON HILARY MANTEL: 'She writes like an angel ... and it is this angelic prose which turns the reader dizzy with pleasure.' David Robson, Sunday Telegraph 'Mantel can out-write most writers of her generation, male and female.' Maggie Gee, Sunday Times 'Hilary Mantel is a wonderfully unsurprised dissector of human motivation.' Helen Dunmore, Observer 'Mantel writes prose of imperturbable aplomb, crisp with irony and highlighted with deftly placed, elegantly surprising images ... she has a penchant for caustic, spiky heroines and a sardonic ear for dialogue.' Peter Kemp, Sunday Times 'Hilary Mantel is a novelist of remarkable diversity. She writes about curiosity, companionship, art, love, death and eternity. She writes with wit, compassion and great elegance.' Sue Gaisford, Independent on Sunday

Long Description

A companion piece to the captivating memoir GIVING UP THE GHOST by the Man Booker-winning author, this collection of loosely autobiographical stories locates the transforming moments of a haunted childhood. This sharp, funny collection of stories drawn from life begins in the 1950s in an insular northern village 'scoured by bitter winds and rough gossip tongues.' For the child narrator, the only way to survive is to get up, get on, get out. In 'King Billy is a Gentleman', the child must come to terms with the loss of a father and the puzzle of a fading Irish heritage. 'Curved Is the Line of Beauty' is a story of friendship, faith and a near-disaster in a scrap-yard. The title story sees our narrator ironing out her northern vowels with the help of an ex-actress with one lung and a Manchester accent. In 'Third Floor Rising', she watches, dazzled, as her mother carves out a stylish new identity. With a deceptively light touch, Mantel locates the transforming moments of a haunted childhood.

Review Quote

'Mercilessly funny' Daily Telegraph 'Mantel writes with wit, compassion and great elegance.' Independent on Sunday On 'Giving Up the Ghost': 'Like Lorna Sage's BAD BLOOD, GIVING UP THE GHOST is a story of childhood that is also a piece of history. Hilary Mantel's self-portrait is a masterpiece of wit, but it conjures up a time and a place and an epoch of female experience with razor-edged sobriety. That past, so thoroughly vanished, is made to live again here disclosed, cannily and heartbreakingly, as once it too yielded up its author's mind.' Rachel Cusk 'What a remarkable writer she is. She is piercingly, even laceratingly observant, and every remembered detail has the sharpness of a good photograph. And yet for all its brilliance of detail and its black comedy the memoir is heavy with atmophere. It's a very startling and daring memoir; the more I read it the more unsettling it becomes.' Helen Dunmore 'I was riveted. It's raw, it's distressing and it's full of piercing insights into a novelist's mind.' Margaret Forster

Feature

* A collection of exquisite stories from one of Britain's foremost writers * Hilary's stunning memoir Giving Up the Ghost will have raised her profile in the months prior to publication * To be dramatised on Radio 4 upon publication * Hilary is a well known critic and was one of the judges of the recent Granta 20 best of British novelists Competition: The;Wolf Hall;Bring up the Bodies;Testaments;Handmaid's Tale;American Dirt;girl, woman, other;Tidelands;A place of Greater Safety. By;Hilary Mantel;Margaret Atwood;Philippa Gregory;Bill Bryson;Robert Harris;John le Carre;Alison Weir;Kate Atkinson

Description for Sales People

A companion piece to the captivating memoir GIVING UP THE GHOST by the Man Booker-winning author, this collection of loosely autobiographical stories locates the transforming moments of a haunted childhood. This sharp, funny collection of stories drawn from life begins in the 1950s in an insular northern village 'scoured by bitter winds and rough gossip tongues.' For the child narrator, the only way to survive is to get up, get on, get out. In 'King Billy is a Gentleman', the child must come to terms with the loss of a father and the puzzle of a fading Irish heritage. 'Curved Is the Line of Beauty' is a story of friendship, faith and a near-disaster in a scrap-yard. The title story sees our narrator ironing out her northern vowels with the help of an ex-actress with one lung and a Manchester accent. In 'Third Floor Rising', she watches, dazzled, as her mother carves out a stylish new identity. With a deceptively light touch, Mantel locates the transforming moments of a haunted childhood. Lead title * A collection of exquisite stories from one of Britain's foremost writers * Hilary's stunning memoir Giving Up the Ghost will have raised her profile in the months prior to publication * To be dramatised on Radio 4 upon publication * Hilary is a well known critic and was one of the judges of the recent Granta 20 best of British novelists

Details ISBN0007166443 Author Hilary Mantel Publisher HarperCollins Publishers Year 2003 ISBN-10 0007166443 ISBN-13 9780007166442 Format Paperback Publication Date 2003-07-07 Imprint Fourth Estate Ltd Subtitle Short Stories Place of Publication London Country of Publication United Kingdom DEWEY 823.914 Media Book Pages 176 Short Title LEARNING TO TALK Language English Residence ENK DOI 10.1604/9780007166442 UK Release Date 2003-07-07 Edited by Michael Wittmann Birth 1927 Death 1925 Affiliation University of Queensland Position Senior Lecturer Qualifications J.D. Alternative 9780007354887 Audience General AU Release Date 2003-08-20 NZ Release Date 2003-08-31 We've got this

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