The Go-Between (Penguin Twentieth Century Classics S.) - Softcover

Brooks-Davies, Douglas; Hartley, L. P.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140188525 ISBN 13: 9780140188523

Publisher: Penguin Classics, 1997

Synopsis

An invitation to a friend's house changes an adolescent boy's life. Discovering an old diary, Leo, now in his sixties, is drawn back to the hot summer of 1900 and his visit to Brandham Hall. The past comes to life as Leo recalls the events and devastating outcome that destroyed his beliefs and future hopes.

About this title

Review

"Exuding such a sense of summer the pages might be warm to touch, Hartley's coming-of-age tale is set during the heatwave of 1900. It all ends in tears, but not before there have been plenty of cucumber sandwiches on the lawn." --"The Observer
The first time I read it, it cleared a haunting little spot in my memory, sort of like an embassy to my own foreign country . I don't want to spoil the suspense of a well-made plot, because you must read this, but let's just say it goes really badly and the messenger (shockingly) gets blamed. Or he blames himself anyway. And here the mirror cracks; the boy who leaves Brandham is not the one who came. Indeed the narrator converses with his old self as though he were two people. That was the powerful gonging left by my first read: What, if anything, bundles us through time into a single person? Ann Brashares, All Things Considered, NPR
I can't stop recommending to anyone in earshot L.P. Hartley's "The Go-Between" . One of the fabled opening lines in modern literature: The past is a foreign country: They do things differently there. The NYRB paperback has a superb new introduction by Colm Toibin, but don't read it until after you've read the book itself. Frank Rich, "New York "Magazine.com
""

"Exuding such a sense of summer the pages might be warm to touch, Hartley's coming-of-age tale is set during the heatwave of 1900. It all ends in tears, but not before there have been plenty of cucumber sandwiches on the lawn." --The Observer

"The first time I read it, it cleared a haunting little spot in my memory, sort of like an embassy to my own foreign country.... I don't want to spoil the suspense of a well-made plot, because you must read this, but let's just say it goes really badly and the messenger (shockingly) gets blamed. Or he blames himself anyway. And here the mirror cracks; the boy who leaves Brandham is not the one who came. Indeed the narrator converses with his old self as though he were two people. That was the powerful gonging left by my first read: What, if anything, bundles us through time into a single person?" - Ann Brashares, "All Things Considered," NPR

"I can't stop recommending to anyone in earshot L.P. Hartley's The Go-Between.... One of the fabled opening lines in modern literature: 'The past is a foreign country: They do things differently there.' The NYRB paperback has a superb new introduction by Colm Toibin, but don't read it until after you've read the book itself." - Frank Rich, New York Magazine.com

Book Description

L. P. Hartley’s enduring coming of age story about a forbidden love and its terrible consequences.

Edition details

• Publisher: Penguin Classics
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0140188525
• ISBN 13: 9780140188523
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 336