Master Georgie

A quirky and compelling book, packed with witty observations and extraordinary characters, which really ought to have won the Booker prize, but missed it by a whisker * Daily Mail *
It is hard to think of anyone now writing who understands the human heart as Beryl Bainbridge does * The Times *
Truly extraordinary, heartbreakingly good * Sunday Telegraph *
The economy of Bainbridge's writing, for which she is famous, results in a slender novel with an astonishing range * Independent on Sunday *
Another masterly exploration by an author at the peak of her form...She was always good at funny dialogue and acute observation of the oddities of human behaviour, but her recent historical explorations have given full reign to her startling powers of description * Daily Telegraph *
"I intend to survive," announces Pompey Jones as he goes into a climactic battle of the Crimean War, near the end of Beryl Bainbridge's remarkable new novel...The marvelous trick Ms. Bainbridge pulls off is that she tells her story so elliptically that you have to pay attention to her every word. No conversation is wasted * New York Times *
Beryl Bainbridge is one of Britain's best-loved novelists. She has twice won the prestigious Whitbread Prize and has been shortlisted five times for the Booker Prize, most recently for Master Georgie, her sixteenth and perhaps most accomplished novel. When the strongly favored book didn't win, the cry of "Foul" from the literary arena echoed through the land * Paris Review *
Offers perhaps the most brilliant demonstration yet of her matchless gift for storytelling concision and subtle suggestiveness...Bainbridge creates a haunting picture of a world in which human relationships are ruled by accident and people's understanding of others is decisively distorted and limited by their own inner natures...An exemplary work from one of Britain's finest writers * Kirkus *