Allan Hollinghurst Boeken

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.

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.

Picking up at the point in time where 'The Swimming-Pool Library' left off. Nick Guest has moved into the attic room of the Feddens: Gerald, a Tory MP, his wife Rachel and their children Toby and Catherine. The troubled Catherine soon becomes Nick's friend and uneasy responsibility.

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.

On the Battersea Reach of the Thames, a mixed bag of eccentrics live in houseboats. Belonging to neither land nor sea, they belong to one another. There is Maurice, a homosexual prostitute; Richard, a buttoned-up ex-navy man; but most of all there's Nenna, the struggling mother of two wild little girls. How each of their lives complicates the others is the stuff of this perfect little novel.

A comedy of sexual manners that follows the interlocking affairs of four men: Robin Woodfield, an architect in his late forties living with his younger lover Justin (a would-be actor) in Dorset; Robin's 22-year-old son Danny, who lives for clubbing and casual sex; and shy Alex

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.

From the internationally acclaimed winner of the Man Booker Prize comes a masterly novel that spans seven transformative decades in England, exploring the complex relationships of a remarkable family. In 1940, David Sparsholt arrives at Oxford to study engineering, aiming to join the Royal Air Force. Charismatic and athletic, he remains unaware of his impact on others, particularly Evert Dax, the lonely son of a celebrated novelist destined to become a writer. Amid the chaos of World War II and the Blitz, Oxford serves as a backdrop for fleeting beauty and secret liaisons, where a friendship between David and Evert develops, leading to unexpected consequences. This novel delves into the legacy of David Sparsholt across three generations, revealing how his life influences friends and family. Through vividly rendered episodes—such as a Sparsholt holiday in Cornwall, eccentric gatherings at the Dax home, and the adventures of David's son Johnny in 1970s London—the narrative captures shifts in taste, morality, and private life. As it evokes the increasing openness of gay life, the story becomes a meditation on human transience, poignantly expressing the longing for permanence and continuity.

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.