First published 2003
On a Thames barge in the early 1960s, misfits and outcasts create their own floating community away from solid ground. At the BBC during World War II, directors and young assistants work to preserve British culture while calming a nation facing German invasion. In 1913 Moscow, an English printer finds himself alone with three children when his wife disappears, leaving him to navigate approaching revolution. Penelope Fitzgerald published her first novel at sixty-one and became one of England's most celebrated writers. These three complete novels capture characters living on the margins, whether by choice or circumstance. The Booker Prize winner Offshore explores the eccentric barge dwellers who prefer muddy water to landlocked life. Human Voices reveals the behind-the-scenes world of wartime broadcasting. The Beginning of Spring follows a man struggling to hold his family together as political upheaval threatens everything he knows. Each story creates a complete world through precise details and carefully drawn characters facing uncertainty.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, contemporary, british-literature
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: England, Moscow, Thames
Period: 1913, 1960s, World War II
440 pages · Hardcover · Everyman's Library