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Bennett, Alan The Lady in the Van ISBN 13: 9781781255407

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In 1974, the homeless Miss Shepherd moved her broken down van into Alan Bennett's garden. Deeply eccentric and stubborn to her bones, Miss Shepherd was not an easy tenant. And Bennett, despite inviting her in the first place, was a reluctant landlord. And yet she lived there for fifteen years.

This account of those years was first published in 1989 in the London Review of Books. The play premiered in 1999, directed by Nicholas Hytner and starring Dame Maggie Smith, who reprise their roles in this new film adaptation. Shot on location at Bennett's house, Alex Jennings plays the author, alongside household names including Frances de la Tour, Jim Broadbent and Dominic Cooper.

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Review:
Life imitates art in The Lady in the Van, the story of the itinerant Miss Shepherd, who lived in a van in Alan Bennett's driveway from the early1970s until her death in 1989. It is doubtful that Bennett could have made up the eccentric Miss Shepherd if he tried, but his poignant, funny but unsentimental account of their strange relationship is akin to his best fictional screen writing.

Bennett concedes that "One seldom was able to do her a good turn without some thoughts of strangulation", but as the plastic bags build up, the years pass by and Miss Shepherd moves into Bennett's driveway, a relationship is established which defines a certain moment in late 20th-century London life which has probably gone forever. The dissenting, liberal, middle-class world of Bennett and his peers comes into hilarious but also telling collision with the world of Miss Shepherd: "there was a gap between our social position and our social obligations. It was in this gap that Miss Shepherd (in her van) was able to live".

Bennett recounts Miss Shepherd's bizarre escapades in his inimitable style, from her letter to the Argentinean Embassy at the height of the Falklands War, to her attempts to stand for Parliament and wangle an electric wheelchair out of the Social Services. Beautifully observed, The Lady in the Van is as notable for Bennett's attempts to uncover the enigmatic history of Miss Shepherd, as it is for its amusing account of her eccentric escapades. --Jerry Brotton

Review:

Praise for Alan Bennett:

'Has you laughing as well as mopping your eyes. Utter genius

(Daily Mail)

Clear-eyed, touching, occasionally waspish ... ever honest (The Times)

Alan Bennett continues to surprise and delight (John Banville Daily Telegraph)

A perfect stocking filler for just about anyone (Monica Ali Guardian)

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  • PublisherProfile Books
  • Publication date2015
  • ISBN 10 1781255407
  • ISBN 13 9781781255407
  • BindingMass Market Paperback
  • Number of pages112
  • Rating

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9781861971227: The Lady in the Van

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ISBN 10:  ISBN 13:  9781861971227
Publisher: Profile Books, 1999
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  • 9780571204717: The Lady in the Van

    Faber ..., 2000
    Softcover

  • 9780573112669: Lady in the Van (French's Acting Editions)

    Samuel..., 2006
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  • 9781873092002: The Lady in the Van

    The Lo..., 1990
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  • 9780571316762: The Lady in the Van

    Faber ..., 2014
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