Agnes Day - sub-editor, failure extraordinaire - is unwell. Terminally middle-class, incurably romantic and chronically confused by life's most basic equations, Agnes discovers gaps in her general education which make recovery unlikely. This book won the Whitbread First Novel Award.
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Rachel Cusk is also the author of The Country Life. She lives in Oxford.
After the critical success of The Country Life, Cusk's American audience should relish the opportunity to read her Whitbread Prize-winning debut novel, first published in Britain in 1993. Here, too, a na?ve young woman is the heroine of a compelling and eloquent tale about her devastating first love affair, and her emergence, newly independent, into the adult world. Agnes Day lives in London with her friends Nina and Merlin, buddies since Oxford, and works at a magazine called Diplomat's Week. Agnes hates her name, and the ordinariness of her life. Longing for love, she thinks she has found her opportunity in John, a handsome, somewhat mysterious man whose suave nonchalance is matched by his subtle perversity. As in The Country Life, Cusk reveals bits and pieces of the affair through Agnes's memories, a device that allows her to show how scenes from their relationship come back to haunt Agnes after the breakup. Hidden to the reader, as it was to Agnes, is a crucial secret about John that her friends kept from her. Cusk writes witty and winding sentences that are a joy to read, once one gets past the first chapters of the novel, where they are frustratingly unrelieved by plot. However, as the complications of the storyAthe affair, the dramas at the magazine, the roommate problemsAassume clear focus, the narrative becomes engrossing. Quirky but appealing characters and wry social commentary enliven the narrative, and Cusk's use of telling detail is exquisite and sometimes diabolical. The dialogue is often hilarious, illuminating even minor characters with pithy ?lan. Readers will find themselves plugging for the hapless but increasingly feisty AgnesAand savoring Cusk's rich explorations into the life of a young woman whose view of the world is never rosy, but who, in the book's closing scenes, comes to understand that future happiness can lurk in an event as ordinary as a bus ride.
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Seller: AwesomeBooks, Wallingford, United Kingdom
Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Saving Agnes This book is in very good condition and will be shipped within 24 hours of ordering. The cover may have some limited signs of wear but the pages are clean, intact and the spine remains undamaged. This book has clearly been well maintained and looked after thus far. Money back guarantee if you are not satisfied. See all our books here, order more than 1 book and get discounted shipping. Seller Inventory # 7719-9780333588970
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Seller: Bahamut Media, Reading, United Kingdom
Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. This book is in very good condition and will be shipped within 24 hours of ordering. The cover may have some limited signs of wear but the pages are clean, intact and the spine remains undamaged. This book has clearly been well maintained and looked after thus far. Money back guarantee if you are not satisfied. See all our books here, order more than 1 book and get discounted shipping. Seller Inventory # 6545-9780333588970
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Seller: Klanhorn, Queanbeyan, NSW, Australia
Soft cover. Condition: VG+. Dust Jacket Condition: NO DUST JACKET. Uncorrected Book Proof. Witty novel of a sub-editor's descent into sub-humanity. AUTHOR'S FIRST NOVEL. Winner of the Whitbread Prize for Best First Novel. PROOF: Edgewear; flaking at spine ends; some rubbing; release details and price information in ink on the half-title page. Scan on request. Seller Inventory # 003652
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