Human Croquet - Softcover

Atkinson, Kate

Softcover

ISBN 10: 055299619X ISBN 13: 9780552996198

Publisher: Black Swan, 1998

Synopsis

The brilliant and profound second novel from the three-times Costa prizewinner and number one bestseller Kate Atkinson.

'Vivid, richly imaginative, hilarious and frightening by turns' Observer

Once it had been the great forest of Lythe. And here, in the beginning, lived the Fairfaxes, grandly, at Fairfax Manor.

But over the centuries the forest had been destroyed, replaced by Streets of Trees. The Fairfaxes have dwindled too; now they live in 'Arden' at the end of Hawthorne Close and are hardly a family at all.

But Isobel Fairfax, who drops into pockets of time and out again, knows about the past. She is sixteen and waiting for the return of her mother - the thin, dangerous Eliza with her scent of nicotine, Arpège and sex, whose disappearance is part of the mystery that still remains at the heart of the forest.

About this title

About the Author

Kate Atkinson is one of the world's foremost novelists. Her most recent novel, Shrines of Gaiety, set in the aftermath of the First World War, is a Sunday Times bestseller. She won the Whitbread Book of the Year prize with her first novel, Behind the Scenes at the Museum. Her three critically lauded and prize-winning novels set around the Second World War are Life After Life, an acclaimed 2022 BBC TV series, A God in Ruins (both winners of the Costa Novel Award) and Transcription. Her bestselling literary crime novels featuring former detective Jackson Brodie, Case Histories, One Good Turn, When Will There Be Good News? and Started Early, Took My Dog, became a BBC television series starring Jason Isaacs. Jackson Brodie later returned in the novel Big Sky. Kate Atkinson was awarded an MBE in 2011 and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

From the Back Cover

WONDERFULLY ELOQUENT AND FORCEFUL BRILLIANT AND ENGROSSING
Penelope Fitzgerald, Evening Standard

Once it had been the great forest of Lythe - a vast and impenetrable thicket of green.And here, in the beginning, lived the Fairfaxes, grandly, at Fairfax Manor, visited once by the great Gloriana herself.

But over the centuries the forest had been destroyed, replaced by Streets of Trees.The Fairfaxes have dwindled too; now they live in Arden at the end of Hawthorne Close and are hardly a family at all.

But Isobel Fairfax, who drops into pockets of time and out again, knows about the past. She is sixteen and waiting for the return of her mother - the thin, dangerous Eliza with her scent of nicotine, Arpège and sex, whose disappearance is part of the mystery that still remains at the heart of the forest.

VIVID, RICHLY IMAGINATIVE, HILARIOUS AND FRIGHTENING BY TURNS
Cressida Connolly, Observer

Edition details

• Publisher: Black Swan
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 055299619X
• ISBN 13: 9780552996198
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 448