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    Sweet William: A Novel
    Unavailable
    Sweet William: A Novel
    Unavailable
    Sweet William: A Novel
    Ebook201 pages3 hours

    Sweet William: A Novel

    By Beryl Bainbridge

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Romantic comedy meets social satire in this delirious novel about sexual freedom versus British tradition in swinging 1960s London.

    When dull professor Gerald leaves London for the United States, his fiancée, Ann, is a bit afraid and sad to see him go—never has he looked so handsome and masculine as when he’s about to board the plane. But a few days later at a religious service, Ann is beckoned to sit next to a stranger with yellow curls and a nose like a prizefighter’s. Her heart inexplicably begins to race; she feels like she has the flu. This stranger, William McClusky, tells Ann in his Scottish accent that he is a playwright who will be interviewed on TV the very next day. Furthermore, he promises to have a television dropped by her house so she can watch him! From this first bizarre seduction, Ann is infatuated, and in the days following, William begins to take over her life.
     
    In the throes of the affair, Ann gives up her BBC job, helps a friend get an abortion, encourages adultery, and writes a break-up letter to her fiancé. Her engagement to Gerald had been rushed, after all, and was designed to serve her mother’s desires more than her own. With William, on the other hand, everything feels different. But is this new man really who he says he is? Is he a genius or a fraud, a compassionate soul or a cheater? Perhaps William is simply a means by which Ann can play out her dangerous fantasies and finally take part in the swinging sixties. Only one thing is certain: Now that she’s with him, there’s no turning back.
     
    An ironic investigation into the art of self-deception and the repercussions of sexual freedom, this blend of black comedy and social satire showcases the wit of award-winning author Beryl Bainbridge, and affirms her status as a mainstay in twentieth-century British literature.
     
     
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Media
    Release dateNov 29, 2016
    ISBN9781504039925
    Unavailable
    Sweet William: A Novel
    Author

    Beryl Bainbridge

    Dame Beryl Bainbridge (1932–2010) is acknowledged as one of the greatest British novelists of her time. She was the author of two travel books, five plays, and seventeen novels, five of which were shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, including Master Georgie, which went on to win the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the WHSmith Literary Award. She was also awarded the Whitbread Literary Award twice, for Injury Time and Every Man for Himself. In 2011, a special Man Booker “Best of Beryl” Prize was awarded in her honor, voted for by members of the public.   Born in Liverpool and raised in nearby Formby, Bainbridge spent her early years working as an actress, leaving the theater to have her first child. Her first novel, Harriet Said . . ., was written around this time, although it was rejected by several publishers who found it “indecent.” Her first published works were Another Part of the Wood and An Awfully Big Adventure, and many of her early novels retell her Liverpudlian childhood. A number of her books have been adapted for the screen, most notably An Awfully Big Adventure, which is set in provincial theater and was made into a film by Mike Newell, starring Alan Rickman and Hugh Grant. She later turned to more historical themes, such as the Scott Expedition in The Birthday Boys, a retelling of the Titanic story in Every Man for Himself, and Master Georgie, which follows Liverpudlians during the Crimean War. Her no-word-wasted style and tight plotting have won her critical acclaim and a committed following. Bainbridge regularly contributed articles and reviews to the Guardian, Observer, and Spectator, among others, and she was the Oldie’s longstanding theater critic. In 2008, she appeared at number twenty-six in a list of the fifty most important novelists since 1945 compiled by the Times (London). At the time of her death, Bainbridge was working on a new novel, The Girl in the Polka Dot Dress, which was published posthumously.  

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    Reviews for Sweet William

    3.5/5

    18 ratings3 reviews

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    • 4/5
      A somewhat jaundiced view of the relations between the sexes, perhaps? Young men -- absolutely self-absorbed, sexually omnivorous asses. Old men -- silent, washed up, irrelevant, absolutely self-absorbed nonentities. Young women -- delusional, absolutely self-absorbed, emotionally infantile morons. Old women -- ridiculous, absolutely self-absorbed, wretched hypocrites. At the end, a newborn is jovially welcomed into this world, so the book should probably be called a comedy.
    • 2/5
      I would like to say that I enjoyed this book. It was a fast read, and I didn't have any problems finishing it, but it just wasn't my idea of an inspiring read. I was hoping that one of the main characters would finally do something that would prove that they had learned something about life. Sadly, it was just about the back and forth of a bad romance. I am left with very little to recommend in this title. I found the characters too obviously obsessed with themselves and willing to use others and submit to being used all in the name of love.I thank Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this title.
    • 5/5
      Ann is a secretary at the BBC. She is engaged to Gerald, but he’s just got a job in America and she won’t be able to join him until later. Ann’s mother is staying with her in her rented London flat and when they get home from Gerald’s leaving party at work, she worries about her mother, while the slightly drunk Gerald has other intentions…"When he brought her home he pushed his way into the flat and tried to make her take her clothes off. She wouldn’t remove all of them, in case her mother came out of the bedroom. He bent her over the sofa and made love to her standing up. It didn’t work very well because he was too drunk; every time he lunged forward she was pressed against the upholstered arm, and dust filled her nose. They couldn’t lie down because the floor creaked. Gerald became terribly irritated by her lack of co-operation, but there was nothing she could do. Mrs Walton started moving about in the other room and coughing and calling out for cups of water. In the end Gerald swore and made a dreadful noise going downstairs – a sort of howl like a dog on the end of a chain. It was astonishing Mrs Walton didn’t come out in her while nylon nightgown and confront them both. She wasn’t a coward."Ann’s mother is soon off back to Brighton, not standing for having to listen to her daughter’s noisy love-making; she is a product of a different era and doesn’t approve of Ann’s permissiveness. No sooner is Gerald off to the USA, than Ann finds herself being picked up by William McCluskey at the school harvest festival of all places. William is a larger than life, golden-haired playwright.William sweeps her off her feet, and soon beds her, and Ann is suddenly deliriously in love. When Ann’s cousin Pamela arrives, pregnant and needing a (still illegal) abortion, William is on hand to comfort, and soon he’s moved in. He persuades her to write to Gerald to call it off, and even jack in her job at the Beeb so she can devote herself to him. But as soon as he moves in, he starts disappearing at odd times, and the phone starts ringing with women wanting William…You’ve guessed it – he just can’t keep his pants on, and doesn’t appear to realise the chaos that occurs in his wake. Every woman he meets seems to fall for his charms. He’s a philanderer with a big heart, but his conquests don’t know the scope of his attentions, as he weaves a complicated web of obfuscation and lies to cover his roving.Although it all seems a bit 1970s, in that some of the attitudes are a bit dated – notably those of Ann and her mother, there are definitely William types still around, (I fell for one once!). Womens’ lives and aspirations may have moved on, but we’re still suckers for love – I have a sneaking suspicion that I would have fallen for William too, (although his love of Scottish footballer Dennis Law might have put me off!).According to her obituary in the Daily Telegraph, William was modelled on the chap she had a relationship with when she moved to London after her marriage broke up in Liverpool. The article quotes: “I didn’t exaggerate his character” recalled Beryl Bainbridge of her muse. “If anything I toned him down.”I really enjoyed this black comedy of a romcom, always hoping that Ann would begin to stand up for herself, and that the loveable rogue William would get his comeuppance. In its 160 pages, it moved at the pace of a West-End farce, never letting the action drop and ramping it up towards the end. Great and wicked fun.(9/10)