It is 1970 in the suburbs of north London and, from the untidy comfort of her crowded house, Colette Jones is watching her older brother go to pieces, drinking himself into oblivion on home-made wine. Colette knows the solace a drink can provide, being partial to an evening at the Red Lion herself. But soon she finds she cannot afford to ignore the destructive effect the alcohol is having on her family and with gritted teeth Colette is forced to exile the alcoholic son she loves so much from the house. But this act takes its toll and, just as she can't resist a drink, so she can't resist allowing Janus back into her life - with heartbreaking consequences for everyone. Gerard Woodward's magnificent second novel continues the story of the Joneses, so memorably introduced in August. By way of an odyssey through the pubs, parks and shopping parades of suburban London, it lurches from farce to tragedy as the members of one unforgettable family build and destroy their lives.

I'll Go to Bed at Noon

Literature & Fiction

Woodward, Gerard

Contemporary

Vintage

Caravan Thieves

Most of these vivid and unsettling stories are rooted in apparently everyday lives and situations, but suddenly become surreal or disturbing. Reading them feels as though you’re walking along in the real world and suddenly you step off an edge into a void, where rules of gravity and normality have disappeared but life carries on. Full of Woodward’s trademark mix of humour, pathos, dysfunctional families and disappointed lives, they contain also dazzling moments of illumination, perfect imagery and intimations of mortality.The title comes from the story “Rape,” where a caravan (a nice Fleetwood Marauder) seems to have been lifted from its regular berth at Glenmore Caravan Park in the middle of the night to land with its occupants in a field in the middle of nowhere — which leads to unaccustomed and violent fantasies.From the Hardcover edition.

Short Stories & Anthologies

Vintage Books

In the heartbreakingly funny follow-up to the Booker Prize shortlisted I’ll Go to Bed at Noon, Aldous Jones is an old man whose wife has died, his children have left home, but he still wants to live life to the full.From the Hardcover edition.

A Curious Earth

Nourishment

Picador

'Woodward's study of the ways in which we consume ourselves and those we love is surprising and surprisingly charming darkly witty and altogether brilliant' Easy Living The English are an unusual bunch: quirky and eccentric, often reserved and reticent, but always strong and resilient. Tory Pace, the heroine of this beautifully written and hilarious black comedy, is all of these things. Typically, she's trying to make the best of life in a difficult time: struggling, as only a mother can, to sustain her family in a land starved of nourishment. But like so many triumphs over adversity, her survival comes with a heavy price. Beginning shortly after the outbreak of war and continuing into the deftly drawn austerity years that followed, Woodward offers a generous family saga. Equally memorable for poignant moments of sadness, comic tableau, witty observations and unforgettable characters, Nourishment is a novel like no other every bit as unique and charming as an English family, in fact.

Crafts, Hobbies & Home

Picador USA

The Vanishing

"A loving and harrowing account of the havoc alcohol can wreak on a family." ―Sarah Lyall, New York Times Colette Jones has had problems of her own with alcohol, but now it seems as though her whole family is in danger of turning to booze. Her oldest son, Janus, the family's golden boy, has wasted his talents as a concert pianist. His drinking sprees with his brother-in-law, Bill, a pseudo-Marxist supermarket butcher who sees alcohol as central to the proletarian revolution, have turned violent and landed him in trouble with the police. Meanwhile Colette's recently widowed older brother is desperate to numb his grief. This is a darkly funny novel about a quirky, troubled family as it lurches from farce to tragedy to pub and back again. "The narrative is mind-bogglingly crisp, resourceful and sometimes hilarious in its description of the myriad ways in which people drink. . . . This is both a moral and a literary book. . . . Remarkable."―London Sunday Times "Far above the ordinary. Woodward's characters are wonderfully complex and rich."―London Telegraph

I'll Go to Bed at Noon: A Novel

W.W.Norton

In this successor to his Man Booker Prize finalist, Gerard Woodward slyly pits defiant Aldous Jones against the hazards of aging. Left with an empty house after the death of his wife, Aldous Jones is tempted to spend the whole day sitting in his chair in the kitchen. But with admirable determination he resumes old pastimes until, one day, wandering London, he is surprised to find a painting that holds him completely in its spell. Rembrandt's portrait of his housekeeper-turned-mistress, Hendrijcke Stoffels, awakens Jones's desire for a new life, a new woman, sex, and companionship. It leads him to Belgium to stay with his bohemian son, to evening language classes, and through a series of slightly misguided relationships until eventually he meets his Hendrijcke. As The Guardian writes, this work is "brave, funny, and beautifully written, as perceptive about Rembrandt and Shakespeare as it is about evening classes, potato tubers sprouting in neglected cupboards and the accumulated detritus of family life."

A Curious Earth: A Novel

W.W.Norton&Company

Shortlisted for the Whitbread Award, August is the life of a family through fifteen summer trips to Wales. Little did Aldous Jones know when he careened over his bicycle handlebars back in 1955, landing next to farmer Evans’s field, that it would turn into the idyllic start to a series of camping holidays in that same field. With Gerard Woodward’s deadpan wit and poignant evocation, August encapsulates the portrait of the Joneses and their growing family. Strangely enough, the rural site seems to change in conjunction with their city life, creating a parallel universe instead of a getaway. The Jones family also is featured in I’ll Go to Bed at Noon and A Curious Earth.

August: A Novel

Literary

Colette Jones has had drink problems in the past, but now it seems as though her whole family is in danger of turning to alcohol. Her oldest son has thrown away a promising musical career for a job behind the counter in a builders' merchants, and his drinking sprees with his brother-in-law Bill, a pseudo-Marxist supermarket butcher who seems to see alcohol as central to the proletarian revolution, have started to land him in trouble with the police. Meanwhile Colette's recently widowered older brother is following an equally self-destructive path, having knocked back an entire cellar of homemade wine, he's now on the gin, a bottle a day and counting. Who will be next? Her youngest son had decided to run away to sea, but when her own husband hits the bottle Colette realises she has to act. As the pressure builds on Colette to cope with these damaged people, her own weaknesses begin to emerge, and become crucial to the outcome of all their lives. By way of an odyssey through the pubs, parks and drying-out clinics of suburban North London, Gerard Woodward's richly woven second novel I'll Go To Bed At Noon charts in microscopic detail the continuing history of a troubled but unforgettable family (first encountered in August) as it lurches from farce to tragedy and back again, and from one end of the 1970's to the other, and at the same time presents an unflinching portrait of British society in the unstable years leading up to the Thatcher revolution. From the Trade Paperback edition.

Chatto&Windus

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Woodward, Gerard. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Woodward, Gerard

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Woodward, Gerard. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

I'll Go to Bed at Noon

Caravan Thieves

A Curious Earth

Nourishment

Nourishment

The Vanishing

I'll Go to Bed at Noon: A Novel

A Curious Earth: A Novel

August: A Novel

I'll Go to Bed at Noon