Synopsis
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 Trade Paperback edition.
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About the Author
Alan Hollinghurst is the author of the novels The Stranger's Child, The Swimming-Pool Library, The Folding Star, The Spell, and The Line of Beauty, which won the Man Booker Prize and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. He has received the Somerset Maugham Award, the E. M. Forster Award of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction. He lives in London.
From Publishers Weekly
On entering a London public lavatory in blithe pursuit of quick, anonymous sex, beautiful and roguish young aristocrat William Beckwith isconfronted instead with an ancient, doddering member of the British House of Lords who, after muttering an incoherent string of polite non sequiturs, promptly keels over at his feet in embarrassed but undeniable coronary arrest. After saving the old man's life, Will is invited to tea by the grateful and slightly senile Lord Nantwich, who, surprised by Will's impressive lineage and appalled at his state of idle unemployment, engages the young man to write the Nantwich life story. Thus begins the unusual relationship that forms the core of this funny, sad and beautifully written novel. The Swimming Pool Library weaves a rich and fascinating tapestry of Britain's gay subculture spanning pre-World War I through the sexually abandoned early '80s, stopping short at the doorstep of AIDS. Hollinghurst's prose is fresh, witty and wise, and his ever-surprising, sinuously unfurling story is told with insouciant grace and unabashed sexuality. BOMC and QPBC alternates. (September) .
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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The Swimming-Pool Library
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ISBN 10: 0701132825
ISBN 13: 9780701132828
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Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. 3rd Impression. The dust jacket is a little shelf rubbed, minor marks and edge worn. The boards are slightly edge rubbed. Now protected in cellophane. The pages are slightly 'browned' due to the age. No inscriptions or annotations. r*21/12/2023. JHK. Our orders are shipped using tracked courier delivery services. Seller Inventory # 24qw
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Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. 3rd Imp. jacket is a little shelf rubbed. discoloration(yellow) throughout the pages. one inscription. text is clear and soundly bound. very good copy.Due to weight postal adjustments may be required.[INF12]. Our orders are shipped using tracked courier delivery services. Seller Inventory # 22pv
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The Swimming Pool Library
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Encuadernación de tapa dura. Condition: Bien. Chatto Windus, 1988. Texto en inglés. 288 pp. 24 x 17. Tapa dura con sobrecubierta de editorial ilustrada. Sin subrayados. Perfecto estado de conservación. ISBN: 9780701132828. Seller Inventory # 010044
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The Swimming Pool Library
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ISBN 10: 0701132825
ISBN 13: 9780701132828
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Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Fine. First Edition. An apparently unread copy that is fine but for faint remainder line top edge and the usual toning; dustjacket is bright, fine, mylar-protected. An attractive copy of the first printing of British edition of author's first book. Seller Inventory # 001619