Spring

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James and Katherine meet at a wedding in London in 2006, towards the end of the money-for-nothing years. James is a man with a varied past now living alone in a flat in Bloomsbury; Katherine is separated from her husband and working in an interim job in a luxury hotel. They exchange phone numbers at the wedding, but from then on not much goes according to the script...

Spring confirms that [Szalay] is a writer with the whole range of talents... Often outstanding
Theo Tait, Sunday Times

The forensic scrutiny of every aspect of a fledgling relationship, from both points of view, is one of the many delights of Spring... Devastatingly powerful...also extremely funny, in that understated, unexpected way that makes you burst into sudden noise in public places and alarm those around you. Szalay's dialogue is pithy and sharp; his peripheral characters lip-smackingly delicious
Leyla Sanai, Independent on Sunday

About David Szalay

David Szalay is the author of five previous works of fiction: Spring, The Innocent, London and the South-East, for which he was awarded the Betty Trask and Geoffrey Faber Memorial prizes, All That Man Is, for which he was awarded the Gordon Burn prize and Plimpton Prize for Fiction, and shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, and Turbulence, which won the Edge Hill Prize. Born in Canada, he grew up in London, and now lives in Vienna. His work has been translated into over twenty languages.

Details

Imprint: Vintage
Published: 01/03/2012
ISBN: 9780099552772
Length: 272 pages
Dimensions: 197mm x 15mm x 130mm
Weight: 190g
Price: £9.99

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Paperback 2012
Ebook 2011

Spring

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Spring confirms that [Szalay] is a writer with the whole range of talents... Often outstanding

A brave and intelligent novel... This is one of those books that leaves you not only with admiration for the novelist, but also with a sense of wonder about the precision of the novel form itself

A texture of truthfulness quite unlike that of any other fiction about London that I know...a very beautifully poised novel

The lives of two disconsolately unfulfilled people start to blaze, thanks to Szalay's often brutal honesty...formidable ear for dialogue - which transforms the most mundane exchanges into comedy, a la Mike Leigh - and seductively sensuous descriptions

A brave venture...psychologically realistic

A sharp, truthful, funny portrait of contemporary manners that is also unexpectedly moving

Highly unusual in its realism and astuteness about the way we live now...in its understated way, a very beautifully poised novel

Szalay is certainly a writer to look out for... The writer [he] most puts me in mind of is a young Julian Barnes

Szalay is immensely talented... [he] gets everything right: the atmosphere, the suspense, the inner lives of his characters. Absolutely superb

About David Szalay

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