By Kate Atkinson
A brand new York Times Book Review Notable booklet of the YearPart fairy story, half secret, half coming-of-age novel, this novel tells the tale of Isobel Fairfax, a woman growing to be up in Lythe, a standard Nineteen Sixties British suburb. yet Lythe was the center of an Elizabethan feudal property and residential to a tender English instruct named William Shakespeare, and as Isobel investigates the unusual historical past of her relations, her friends, and her village, she sometimes will get stuck in Shakespearean time warps. in the meantime, she will get toward the stunning truths approximately her lacking mom, her war-hero father, and the hidden lives of her shut acquaintances and classmates. a gorgeous feat of mind's eye and storytelling, Human Croquet is wealthy with the disappointments and probabilities each kin stocks.
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Example text
It’s very difficult to say how old he is without knowing. Mrs Baxter knows how old he is though, she’d be hard put to forget as Mr Baxter makes a point of reminding her often (‘Remember, Moira – I am older than you and I do know more’). Both Audrey and Mrs Baxter call Mr Baxter ‘Daddy’. When she was a pupil in his class, Audrey had to call him ‘Mr Baxter’ and if she ever forgot and called him ‘Daddy’, he would make her stand at the front of the class for the rest of the lesson. Neither of them calls him ‘Peter’ which is his name.
He urges excitedly. ’ I ask dubiously. ’ Charles says triumphantly. I don’t need to ask the identity of ‘Her’ – Charles has a particular tone of voice, reverential and mystical, that he uses when speaking about Eliza. ’ ‘It says so,’ he says, thrusting it in front of my face. It’s an expensive-looking compact, but old-fashioned – thin and flat, like a heavy gold disc. The lid is a bright blue enamel, inlaid with mother-of-pearl palm trees. The clasp is still springy and snaps open. There’s no powder-puff and the mirror is covered in a thin film of powder and the powder itself – a compacted pale pink – has been worn down in the middle to reveal a circle of silver metal.
Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly. uk HUMAN CROQUET A BLACK SWAN BOOK: 9780552996198 First published in Great Britain in 1997 by Doubleday a division of Transworld Publishers Black Swan edition published 1998 Copyright © Kate Atkinson 1997 The extract and illustration on pp 443–5 are taken from The Home Entertainer edited by Sid Hedges, (Odhams Press). The publishers and author have made every effort to trace the copyright owner and would be pleased to hear from the author and/or artist or their respective estates.