Ask Alice - Hardcover
1904. A pretty young woman travels apprehensively across the American prairies; on a whim she makes a bold decision, grabbing her future with both hands. A lonely little boy, growing up a world away between-stairs in an Edwardian country house, has his future decided for him by impending war and an old woman who parcels him off to her eccentric brother in the flatlands of Norfolk.
Later, in the brightly coloured world of late 1920s London high life, Alice Keach is queen among society hostesses. Behind her lie a marriage to a wealthy landowner, and a career as a celebrated actress. But Alice has a secret, whose roots run five thousand miles away to that Kansas train-ride, and a chain of connection with the potential to blow her comfortable existence apart. A half-hearted blackmailer making his way across the Atlantic; a watchful teenage boy observing the birth of a lucrative new colour in a Norfolk pigpen; a Bright Young woman coming to terms with an unsatisfactory marriage; a country house party that ends in tragedy; a sensational murder trial: all these are gathered up in the story of Alice's rise and fall.
Ranging from the Dakota badlands to the drawing rooms of Mayfair, and from the Norfolk back lanes to the casting couches of the Edwardian theatre, Ask Alice is a remarkable novel that confirms D.J. Taylor as a novelist of scope, imagination and great writing.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Review:
"A gripping page-turner filled with surprises, shocks and deep psychological insight... Intelligent, absorbing and most enjoyable" (Independent on Sunday)
"Utterly gripping reading... You are in for a treat" (Literary Review)
"DJ Taylor creates characters who have dynamic spirit and capture the imagination, while the story has the tension of a thriller, the sensitivity of a romance and the wit of an idiosyncratic adventure" (Easy Living)
"Ambitious and immensely accomplished ... above all a meditation on selfhood and memory" (Guardian)
"A highly accomplished novel. It is engrossingly plotted, and its depiction of the vibrant decade leading to the 1929 Crash offers an interesting parallel to our own times" (Simon Humphreys Mail on Sunday)
Book Description:
"Utterly gripping reading... You are in for a treat" (Literary Review)
"DJ Taylor creates characters who have dynamic spirit and capture the imagination, while the story has the tension of a thriller, the sensitivity of a romance and the wit of an idiosyncratic adventure" (Easy Living)
"Ambitious and immensely accomplished ... above all a meditation on selfhood and memory" (Guardian)
"A highly accomplished novel. It is engrossingly plotted, and its depiction of the vibrant decade leading to the 1929 Crash offers an interesting parallel to our own times" (Simon Humphreys Mail on Sunday)
A wonderful novel of concealment and subterfuge, sweeping from Kansas to London, from 1904 to 1936, by the author of Kept - about a woman's rise and fall, the chances she takes and the secret which will undo her.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherChatto & Windus
- Publication date2009
- ISBN 10 070118356X
- ISBN 13 9780701183561
- BindingHardcover
- Edition number1
- Number of pages352
- Rating
Buy New
Learn more about this copy
£ 45
Shipping:
£ 20
From United Kingdom to U.S.A.
Other Popular Editions of the Same Title
Top Search Results from the AbeBooks Marketplace
Stock Image
Ask Alice - FIRST EDITION, UNREAD, PERFECT
Published by
Chatto and Windus London
(2009)
ISBN 10: 070118356X
ISBN 13: 9780701183561
New
Hardcover
First Edition
Signed
Quantity: 1
Seller:
Rating
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: New. Dust Jacket Condition: New. 1st Edition. FIRST PRINT, WORLD FIRST EDITION, SIGNED. In 1904, a pretty young woman travels apprehensively across the American prairies; on a whim she makes a bold decision, grabbing her future with both hands. A lonely little boy, growing up a world away between-stairs in an Edwardian country house, has his future decided for him by impending war and an old woman who parcels him off to her eccentric brother in the flatlands of Norfolk. Later, in the brightly coloured world of late 1920s London high life, Alice Keach is queen among society hostesses. Behind her lie a marriage to a wealthy landowner, and a career as a celebrated actress. But Alice has a secret, whose roots run five thousand miles away to that Kansas train-ride, and a chain of connection with the potential to blow her comfortable existence apart. A half-hearted blackmailer making his way across the Atlantic; a watchful teenage boy observing the birth of a lucrative new colour in a Norfolk pigpen; a bright young woman coming to terms with an unsatisfactory marriage; a country house party that ends in tragedy; and, a sensational murder trial - all these are gathered up in the story of Alice's rise and fall. Ranging from the Dakota badlands to the drawing rooms of Mayfair, and from the Norfolk back lanes to the casting couches of the Edwardian theatre, "Ask Alice" confirms D.J. Taylor as a novelist of scope, imagination and great writing. Language: eng Language: eng 0.0 Language: eng 0.0 Language: eng 0.0 Language: eng. Signed by Author. Seller Inventory # ABE-1314357901
Buy New
£ 45
Convert currency
Stock Image
Ask Alice
Published by
Chatto & Windus
(2009)
ISBN 10: 070118356X
ISBN 13: 9780701183561
New
Hardcover
Quantity: 1
Seller:
Rating
Book Description Condition: New. . Seller Inventory # 5AUZZZ000IIZ_ns
Buy New
£ 235.20
Convert currency
Stock Image
Ask Alice
Published by
Chatto & Windus
(2009)
ISBN 10: 070118356X
ISBN 13: 9780701183561
New
Hardcover
Quantity: 1
Seller:
Rating
Book Description Condition: New. . Seller Inventory # 52GZZZ01O0CZ_ns
Buy New
£ 235.20
Convert currency