Flying - Hardcover

Sutton, Henry

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0340717327 ISBN 13: 9780340717325

Publisher: Sceptre, 2000

Synopsis

?Flying? focuses on seven characters crewing an airliner on a longhaul return flight between London and New York, and the repercussions of a wild crew party in the down route hotel. Set entirely in the air, as the plane slips from one air traffic control zone to the next, the life stories of the seven slowly unravel, revealing deep scars, strange attractions and an overwhelming need to find a place they can each call home.

About this title

About the Author

Henry Sutton was born in 1963 in Norfolk. He began a career in journalism with the Norwich Mercury and now regularly contributes travel articles to The Times, Conde Nast Traveller and Elle. He has written three previous novels, Gorleston, Bank Holiday Monday and The Househunter, and lives in London.

Review

'Here's an interesting idea. Sutton's novel is built around the return journey of an aeroplane between Heathrow and JFK, New York. Essentially, it's high altititude meets high Modernist as Sutton strips away the cheery smiles, revealing the thoughts of the flight crew in a series of interior monologues - AIRPORT crossed with Virginia Woolf. The result is a sensitive and oddly pleasing novel that captures the fragility of life' The Times 'This is a very clever and well-written novel by a writer who is steadily building as solid reputation for himself as an innovative and original voice in contemporary fiction. Set on a jet bound for New York, it reveals the lives of flight and cabin crew, laying bare their deepest emotions and thoughts, most of which seem to centre around sex. This is an engrossing picture of just how human beings, born free, are everywhere enchained by their own desires, and a wonderful advertisement for a life of chastity - though that may not have been what Sutton intended. "What do people always want? Sex. And more sex", says one character' not an original thought, but the weary anddespairing tone in which the words are said, towards the end of a long-haul flight tells its own story. Sutton chronicles the stale aftermath of the night before brilliantly.' The Tablet Praise for THE HOUSEHUNTER: 'Absolutely gripping. I could hardly bear to put it down and longed for it to go on and on' -- Esther Freud 'A tour de force of literary transvestism...so finely crafted that it takes some time to realise it's got you hooked' -- Time Out 'Wonderfully good...Sutton may well be going to blow our socks off - quietly' -- Observer 'Subtle and atmospheric...alive with memorable detail' -- The Sunday Times 'Hot stuff...[an] unusually sensitive portrait of a woman's life by a male writer' -- The Times 'Quietly engrossing, comically exact...I read this novel with slow, grateful relish, sneaking bites of it' -- Julie Myerson Praise for Henry Sutton's earlier novels: 'Odd, touching, beautifully written' -- The Times 'A wildly original, funny and affectionate first novel' -- Elspeth Barker 'Like the best of Alan Bennett this is satire at its most affectionate' -- Arena

About this edition

• Publisher: Sceptre
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0340717327
• ISBN 13: 9780340717325
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 330