Nourishment - Softcover

Woodward, Gerard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0330519948 ISBN 13: 9780330519946

Publisher: Picador, 2010

Synopsis

With her children evacuated and her husband at the front, Tory Pace is grudgingly sharing the family home with her irascible mother. As Tory works at the local gelatine factory - doing her bit for the war effort - her mother has established herself as matriarch and together they are doing as well as could be expected in difficult times. Tory's quiet life is thrown into turmoil, however, when her prisoner-of-war husband, Donald, makes an outrageous demand for sexual gratification. He wants a dirty letter, by return of post! Horrified, at first, that Donald is being turned into some sort of monster by the Nazis, Tory's disgust gradually gives way to a sense of marital duty, and taking in the libraries, bookshops, public conveniences and barbers' shops of South-East London, she begins a quest to master the language of carnal desire: a quest that takes a sudden and unexpected turn into far more dangerous territory. When Donald returns home, damaged and deranged, at the end of the war, Tory has a few things to explain. But Donald has his own secret plans for their future, and the ensuing tangle of lies, misplaced loyalties and uneasy alliances has repercussions that extend deep into the austerity years that followed the Second World War. Beginning with an act of unintentional cannibalism, and flirting with a scheme to end world hunger by the use of protein pills, Nourishment ranges widely across the Continent and yet always returns home: to family, to people, to relationships. Woodward offers a prescient examination of the ways in which we both nurture and consume each other in the face of adversity. This paperback book has 339 pages and measures: 23 x 17 x 4cm.

About this title

Review:

`A compendium of long-held secrets, Nourishment excels in sharp plot turns and surprise chapter endings. As the action moves on, then loops back, from startling set piece to dramatic revelation . . . Woodward's writing is plain but his imagination is highly original . . . his bizarre scenarios shed an unsparing light on a period that is more often seen as a cosy backdrop to individual heroism or romantic love.' --Sunday Times

'[Woodward] began as a poet, and the virtues of English lyric poetry are carried over into his prose: verbal precision, detailed visual observation, arresting simile and metaphor...line by line it is consistently inventive and witty, and there are great set pieces throughout...The gifts and facilities of a highly original writer are all on display.'
--Guardian

'[Nourishment] is engrossing and witty...Woodward has a gift for describing unorthodox behaviour...a deeply satisfying book - more akin to a filling roast dinner than to some of the gelatinous concoctions currently on the market.' --Times Literary Supplement

'Nourishment in this novel takes various forms, although rarely are they wholesome...a brilliant black comedy seems bound to ensue.' --Daily Mail

'Woodward's style veers between self-consciously mundane postcard humour, effective evocations of humdrum domesticity and a single, searing moment of tragedy.' --Metro

'A compendium of long-held secrets, Nourishment excels in sharp plot turns and surprise chapter endings. As the action moves on, then loops back, from startling set piece to dramatic revelation...Woodward's writing is plain but his imagination is highly original...his bizarre scenarios shed an unsparing light on a period that is more often seen as a cosy backdrop to individual heroism or romantic love.' --Sunday Times

'English embarrassment and the equally English love of provoking it through farcical surprise or scatological shock are a large part of his stock in trade. At the same time, with his gift for pushing situations to their furthest possible extreme, he can strike notes of piercing anguish and joy. His sensibility seems to hover somewhere between Stanley Spencer and Benny Hill. . . . He began as a poet, and the virtues of English lyric poetry are carried over into his prose: verbal precision, detailed visual observation, arresting simile and metaphor. . . but his characters have a grandeur and excess . . . Line by line it is consistently inventive and witty, and there are great set pieces throughout (the loo scenes are done with particular gusto) . . .The gifts and facilities of a highly original writer are all on display.' --Guardian

'[Woodward] writes on a saga scale, but with a tragicomic domestic sensibility . . . Salty, crunchy, incongruously comforting - the combination is very Gerard Woodward.' --Literary Review

'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

'From its outrageous beginning, this quietly funny novel takes a series of unpredictable turns. An engaging, slightly unhinged study of family life.' --Psychologies

Book Description:

The Man Booker Prize shortlisted author delivers a touching, hillarious and engrossing portrait of family life

About this edition

• Publisher: Picador
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0330519948
• ISBN 13: 9780330519946
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 352