Mother's Boy Signed first edition

Gale, Patrick

ISBN 10: 1472257413 / ISBN 13: 9781472257413

Published by Tinder Press, London, 2022

About this Item

First edition, numbered limited edition for independent bookshops (589/1500) signed by the author. Hardback. 406pp. Dust jacket in a protective sleeve. Laura, a poor Cornish girls, meets her handsome husband when they are both in service in Teignmouth in 1916. They have a baby, Charles, but Laura's husband returns home from the trenches a damaged man, already ill with the tuberculosis that will soon leave her a widow. In a small, class-obsessed town she raises her son alone, working as a laundress, and gradually becomes aware that he is some kind of genius. As an intensely private young man, Charles signs up for the navy with the new rank of coder. His escape from the tight and gossipy confines of Launceston to the colour and violence of war sees him blossom as he experiences not only the possibility of death but the constant danger of a love that is as clandestine as his work. This is the story of a man who is among, yet apart from his fellows, in thrall to, yet at a distance from his mother. He is a man being shaped for a long, remarkable and revered life spent hiding in plain sight. But it is equally the story of a dauntless mother who will continue to shield him long after the dangers of war are past. Loosely based on the life of Charles Causley, the Cornish poet, and his mother Laura. Book new and unread. Dust jacket new and unclipped. Signed by the author sticker to the front.

Seller Inventory # 1308434

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Mother's Boy Signed first edition
• Publisher: Tinder Press, London
• Publication Date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1472257413
• ISBN 13: 9781472257413
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)
• Book Type: Book
• Seller catalogs:
  • Modern Fiction

About this title

Synopsis

'Tender, evocative' TLS

'Richly engaging' Spectator

A Radio 4 Serial Fiction Book of the Week

'A characteristically tender novel about a young man growing up in the shadow of one war and the whispers of the next' Observer

'A wonderful novel about relationships, particularly between a mother and son. A compelling read, beautifully crafted and sensitively written' Irish Examiner
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Laura, a laundress, meets her young husband when they are both placed in service in Teignmouth in 1914. They have a baby, Charles, but his father returns home from the trenches a damaged man, already ill with the tuberculosis that will soon leave Laura a widow.

As a new war looms, Charles signs up for the navy as a coder. His escape from the tight, gossipy confines of Launceston to a more colourful life in action sees him blossom, as he experiences the possibility of death, and the excitement - even terror - of a love that is as clandestine as his work.
_______

'Stands with the best queer literary fiction of a historical bent, illuminated as it is by Gale's devilish wit and talent for both social observation and intricacies of character' Sydney Morning Herald

'A wonderful novel - a touching, utterly convincing portrait of the nascent artist' Mail on Sunday

'A deeply moving novel. The portrait of a complex relationship that constricted as much as it sustained is brilliantly done' The Tablet

About the Author

Patrick Gale was born on the Isle of Wight. He spent his infancy at Wandsworth Prison, which his father governed, then grew up in Winchester before going to Oxford University. He now lives on a farm near Land's End. One of this country's best-loved novelists, his most recent works are A Perfectly Good Man, the Richard and Judy bestseller Notes From An Exhibition, the Costa-shortlisted A Place Called Winter and Take Nothing With You. His original BBC television drama, Man In An Orange Shirt, was shown to great acclaim in 2017 as part of the BBC's Queer Britannia series, leading viewers around the world to discover his novels.