Juno and Juliet - Softcover

Gough, Julian

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0007108095 ISBN 13: 9780007108091

Publisher: Flamingo, 2001

Synopsis

A perfect slice of page-turning, intelligent escapism – a romantic comedy ready to be a classic holiday-read.

Juno & Juliet has twin blonde sisters, 18, arriving at university in Galway from their Tipperary home (and going back home for a classic drunken Christmas holiday reunion with their schoolmates) and sets each off on a romantic odyssey...

Juliet, the twin whose head we inhabit for the duration of the book, is as bewitched by university life in general as by anyone there in particular, and her tutor has a glorious way with words to fire her ardour still more warmly...

Juno & Juliet has star-cross’d lovers, dire student drama, impassioned arguments, bad acid trips, amusing musings on the New Ireland, excruciating family dinners, stymied romances, a stalker, poison-pen letters; all sorts. Above all, it’s a lovely, cheering entertainment, drenched in romance and goodwill. A happy book, with an unashamedly happy and positively Shakespearean comic ending.

About this title

Review:

'Achieves that all too rare synthesis of piercing observation and the feelgood factor... A modern, at times brilliant reworking of the classical fairy tale, with nods to Shakespeare, Austen and Beckett, Gough's novel is an intelligent look at the magical banality of student life.' Literary Review

'Julian Gough has an outstanding talent for comic scenes and for an evocation of balmy good nature.' Observer

‘Julian Gough has a fantastic talent. He has a way of stating the obvious as if you’ve never heard it before. Has a way of projecting humour so that it literally jumps up and bites you on the behind. He has a way of painting characters that makes you think you know and understand that these people are real, totally and utterly real, even if only in the realms of this man’s vast imagination. He has a way with simple language which doesn’t make it seem so simple. He turns everyday diction into easy poetry. Julian Gough has you hooked after an opening paragraph which is all of seven lines... I dare anyone not to love this book. Great writer, great story, great reading. I am humbled and honoured in equal amounts.’BBM

From the Back Cover:

'At the time I didn't believe in love. Juno believed in love. Believing in it didn't protect her. Not believing in it didn't protect me. It was an interesting year. This is the story of it.'

Galway. It's a long way to Tipperary, if your eighteen, blonde and one of a pair of twins eager to learn about everything that life, especially college life in Galway, has to offer.

So, when Juno and Juliet Taylor start their first year at university together, disappointment reaches up and tugs them down as all around they encounter a failure of enthusiasm. Yet soon they're inching their way back up again – there's the drunken antics of the theatre; there's cute, sly, kind Michael; and there's the pure passion, pure helium inspiration of the most wonderful of teachers, David Hennessey. And then again, there's also the stalker, with his poison pen letters; there's trips home and trips into inner-space; there's unrequited love and misconsummated love; and there's an easy death. There's almost too much of everything, too much for these twins to handle. But then perhaps the incomparable Mr. Hennessey can help bear the load?

'Juno and Juliet' is a happy book, and if that isn't rare enough in itself, its also a very funny one. Combining the two is so rare a skill that it should guarantee Julian Gough – whose very first book this is – gives his readers pleasures like those here for years to come.

About this edition

• Publisher: Flamingo
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0007108095
• ISBN 13: 9780007108091
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304