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Description edit
A New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year It was the year after Chappaquiddick, and all spring Carmel McBain had watery dreams about the disaster. Now she, Karina, and Julianne were escaping the dreary English countryside for a London University hall of residence.... read more
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
Characters/People edit
- Carmel McBain: Only child of working class Irish Catholic parents in a dreary Lancasher mill town, Carmel's mother has ambitions for her to escape their penny-pinching existence, and rise through the social barriers through her education - first by gaining a scholarship to the nearby convent school, and then to University. Succuss however alienates from her own family, ties and class, and even herself.
- Karina: Plump, self-efficient girl, child of hard-working Eastern European immigrants, is propelled along the same path that Carmel's mother has planned for them both. They share an uneasy and forced alliance.
- Julianna Lipcott: Child of rich, upper class parents, befriends and competes with Carmel for academic prizes at the convent school and then rooms Tonbridge Hall with her as the both attend London University, both excluding increasingly strange Karina. A medical student, she is fast thinking, and fast-living.
- Julianne: Add a description of this character.
- Lynette
- Niall
- Claire
- Roger
- Mary
- Susan Millington
- Mrs Webster
- Jule
- Drury Lane
- Sophy
- Jacqueline
Setting & Locations edit
First Sentence edit
This morning in the newspaper I saw a picture of Julia.
Authors & Contributors edit
- Hilary Mantel (Author)
Awards edit
- Hawthornden Prize (1996)
Classification edit
- Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
- Dewey: 813
Subjects edit
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