Anthology of Modern Poetry

John Wain

Nelson Thornes Ltd

Open country (Hutchinson poets)

Hutchinson

'[A] triumph of mature observation and art.' - Daily Telegraph  'A winter's tale of light and laughter.' - Sunday Times  'What is especially enjoyable is the rough-edged tenderness and kindness of Mr Wain's concern ... probably his most substantial achievement to date.' - Robert Nye, Saturday Times Review  '[S]ubstantial and serious ... sustains a vigorous narrative line - he has always been an excellent storyteller.' - Times Literary Supplement  '[A] love affair between its author and North Wales itself.... It is a novel with its heart in the right place, and it knows where the right place is.' - The Observer  'Clever and entertaining.' - The Guardian  Roger Furnivall is a forty-year-old philologist with no money and no sex life. But he thinks he's found a way to solve both problems: a cushy university post in Sweden pays well and promises access to plenty of beautiful blondes. There's just one catch: the job requires a knowledge of Welsh. Taking a sabbatical in North Wales to learn the language, Roger expects a long and dreary winter of linguistic study, but instead quickly finds himself drawn into the drama of local affairs. A large corporation seeking a monopoly has squeezed every bus operator out of business but one: taciturn hunchback Gareth Jones is the lone holdout. Seeing in this one man's struggle for survival against the faceless forces of corporate greed a problem more important than any he has ever faced, Roger is moved to help. But when the company's hired thugs begin to make attempts on his life, Roger discovers that his winter in the hills may end up being much more than he had bargained for ...  John Wain (1925-1994) catapulted to fame with Hurry on Down (1953), the defining novel of what the media called the 'Angry Young Men' movement, but it was in his later works, in which he explored the unresolved place of the individual in a world of social change driven by abstract and impersonal economics, that he was at his best. This edition of A Winter in the Hills (1970), one of his finest novels, includes a new foreword by Will Wain.

Winter in the Hills

Literature & Fiction

Penguin

Strike the Father Dead: A Novel

Macmillan

Professing poetry

Macmillan Distribution Ltd.

The lost novel, winner of the 1982 Whitbread Prize. New life flowering from death, new perspectives arising from suffering, a new peace that comes from being tested to the uttermost. To 17 year old Paul Waterford life is beginning to seem a sour business, full of unsolved problems, unhappiness and general stress. Why did his young sister have to die in an air disaster? Why is his parents' marriage so evidently close to breaking up? Tired of the world as he sees it, Paul retreats into the fantasy of an ideal republic, the magnetic centre of his fantasies. But under the pressure of extreme circumstances a lot can change in 24 hours.

Young Shoulders (M-Books)

Education & Teaching

Schools & Teaching

"A great fund of comic invention." - "Times Literary Supplement"  "Written with great spirit . . . very funny . . . fresh, unhackneyed and excellently observed." - "Listener"  "[A] bustling kaleidoscope of a book, by an author fertile in expedient, keenly observant and occasionally probing the heart of darkness." - "Sunday Times"  Charles Lumley feels that he has been born in captivity - the captivity of his smugly conventional bourgeois upbringing. Now he has just graduated from university, only to make the discouraging discovery that his education has rendered him unfit for any kind of useful employment. Wondering what to do with the rest of his life and longing to escape, a chance remark overheard in a pub sets him off on a picaresque and hilarious tour of 1950s Britain. He undergoes a string of comic misadventures as he works as a window cleaner, a drug trafficker, a hospital orderly, and a chauffeur, all while trying to find his place in the world and win the love of the beautiful Veronica Roderick.  John Wain (1925-1994) was one of the great English men of letters of the 20th century, a prolific novelist, poet, biographer, and critic whose many accolades included the Somerset Maugham Award, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and the Whitbread Award. "Hurry on Down" (1953), his first novel, ushered in a new kind of English novel and paved the way for many later classics, including Kingsley Amis's "Lucky Jim" (1954) and John Braine's "Room at the Top" (1957). This 60th anniversary edition includes an introduction by Nick Bentley and marks the novel's first republication in the United States in more than half a century.

Hurry on Down

Contemporary

Martin Secker & Warburg Ltd.

<p>The lost novel, winner of the 1982 Whitbread Prize.</p>  <p>New life flowering from death, new perspectives arising from suffering, a new peace that comes from being tested to the uttermost. To 17 year old Paul Waterford life is beginning to seem a sour business, full of unsolved problems, unhappiness and general stress. Why did his young sister have to die in an air disaster? Why is his parents' marriage so evidently close to breaking up? Tired of the world as he sees it, Paul retreats into the fantasy of an ideal republic, the magnetic centre of his fantasies. But under the pressure of extreme circumstances a lot can change in 24 hours.</p>

Young Shoulders (Black Swan)

Black Swan.

Cocktails & Mixed Drinks

Cookbooks, Food & Wine

Beverages & Wine

Par Productions

'A classic.' - Susan Hill, author of The Woman in Black and I'm King of the Castle 'John Wain's best novel in a long time . . . an interesting story . . . stunning.' - The Observer 'John Wain's contribution to the gathering army of lone, upset figures is a notable one.' - William Trevor, Books and Bookmen 'Harrowing but deeply compassionate . . . marks a new and impressive development in Mr. Wain's writing.' British Book News 'This searching novel throws a critical spotlight on the life that the modern world compels us to lead.' - Encounter Arthur Geary, a 45-year-old research scientist, quits his job and leaves his wife and children, taking up residence in a hotel near Paddington Station, where he passes all his time sitting on the platforms, watching the people and trains come and go. Overwhelmed by the stresses of modern life, including his difficult job and failing marriage, Geary finds the limitless sky of London unbearable and seeks refuge beneath the 'smaller sky' of the glass-roofed station. But when friends and family become concerned with his unusual behaviour, and he begins to be hounded by psychiatrists and television reporters, Geary's search for peace and freedom becomes increasingly desperate . . .  One of the great English men of letters of the 20th century, John Wain (1925-1994) won almost every major British literary award during a career that spanned five decades, and his works are now being rediscovered. The Smaller Sky (1967), a classic novel of alienation and despair, is one of Wain's most enduring achievements and returns to print for the first time in more than 35 years. This edition includes a new introduction by Alice Ferrebe.

The Smaller Sky

Valancourt Books

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Books by John Wain