A Long Way from Verona - Softcover

Gardam, Jane

3.84

1,472 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0349114056 ISBN 13: 9780349114057

Publisher: Penguin, 1987

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I ought to tell you at the beginning that I am not quite normal having had a violent experience at the age of nine'

Jessica Vye's 'violent experience' colours her schooldays and her reaction to the world around her- a confining world of Order Marks, wartime restrictions, viyella dresses, nicely-restrained essays and dusty tea shops. For Jessica she has been told that she is 'beyond all possible doubt', a born writer. With her inability to conform, her absolute compulsion to tell the truth and her dedication to accurately noting her experiences, she knows this anyway. But what she doesn't know is that the experiences that sustain and enrich her burgeoning talent will one day lead to a new- and entirely unexpected- reality.

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Review:

Brilliant. (SPECTATOR)

The flavour of this brilliantly witty and agonisingly true-to-life novel is impossible to convey. One even wants to quote endlessly. (TLS)

A book to be judged by the highest standards. (SPECTATOR)

A fiercely funny, eccentric and personal novel. (ECONOMIST)

About the Author:

Jane Gardam has been awarded the Heywood Hill Literary Prize for a lifetime's contribution to the enjoyment of literature; has twice won a Whitbread Award and has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize. She was awarded an OBE in January 2009.

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