Alan Hollinghurst Knihy

'A classic of our times ... The work of a great English stylist in full maturity. A masterpiece' Observer

"A multi-generational story of fathers and sons during the second half of the twentieth century in England"--.

The Sunday Times Novel of the Year 'With The Stranger's Child, an already remarkable talent unfurls into something spectacular' Sunday Times In the late summer of 1913, George Sawle brings his Cambridge friend Cecil Valance, a charismatic young poet, to visit his family home. Filled with intimacies and confusions, the weekend will link the families for ever, having the most lasting impact on George's sixteen-year-old sister Daphne. As the decades pass, Daphne and those around her endure startling changes in fortune and circumstance, reputations rise and fall, secrets are revealed and hidden and the events of that long-ago summer become part of a legendary story, told and interpreted in different ways by successive generations. Powerful, absorbing and richly comic, The Stranger's Child is a masterly exploration of English culture, taste and attitudes over a century of change. 'I would compare the novel to Middlemarch . . . a remarkable, unmissable achievement' Independent 'Magnificent . . . universally acclaimed as the best novel of the year' Philip Hensher

A fourth collection of contemporary British literature, including poetry, essays, short stories, and previews of novels in progress. Among the many contributors, including both new and established writers, are A.S. Byatt, Nadine Gordimer, Hanif Kureishi, Fay Weldon, William Trevor and Brian Aldiss.

Designed to foster critical engagement and interest the specialist and non- specialist alike, each book in the Frick Diptych series illuminates a single work in the Frick's rich collection with an essay by a Frick curator paired with a contribution from a contemporary artist or writer

Alan Hollinghurst's first novel is a tour de force: a darkly erotic work that centres on the friendship of William Beckwith, a young gay aristocrat who leads a life of privilege and promiscuity, and the elderly Lord Nantwich, who is searching for someone to write his biography.

A 'Book of the Year' for multiple prestigious publications and featured on Radio 4's 'Book at Bedtime,' this novel is hailed as the best portrayal of contemporary Britain in the past decade, blending humor with deep emotional resonance. Alan Hollinghurst, the Booker Prize-winning author, presents a darkly luminous and wickedly funny exploration of modern England through one man's unsettling experiences. The narrative delves into themes of race, class, theatre, sexuality, love, and the harsh realities of violence. Thirteen-year-old Dave Win visits the sponsors of his scholarship at a local boarding school, where a weekend of games and challenges introduces him to new possibilities while revealing the envy and aggression of their son, Giles. Over the next fifty years, their paths diverge dramatically: Dave becomes a talented actor facing societal challenges, while Giles rises as a powerful and dangerous politician. The story intimately chronicles Dave's journey from schoolboy to student, his first love affairs in London, and his time with an experimental theatre company, culminating in a transformative late-life romance that brings him newfound happiness and a precarious sense of security. The novel debuted at #9 on the Sunday Times Fiction Hardback chart.

Edward Manners -- thirty three and disaffected -- escapes to a Flemish city in search of a new life. Almost at once he falls in love with seventeen-year-old Luc, and is introduced to the twilight world of the 1890s Belgian painter Edgard Orst.

Penelope Fitzgerald's Booker Prize-winning novel of loneliness and connecting is set among the houseboat community of the Thames and has a new introduction from Alan Hollinghurst.