From the Man Booker Prize–winning author of The Line of Beauty: a magnificent, century-spanning saga about a love triangle that spawns a myth, and a family mystery, across generations. In the late summer of 1913, George Sawle brings his Cambridge schoolmate—a handsome, aristocratic young poet named Cecil Valance—to his family’s modest home outside London for the weekend. George is enthralled by Cecil, and soon his sixteen-year-old sister, Daphne, is equally besotted by him and the stories he tells about Corley Court, the country estate he is heir to. But what Cecil writes in Daphne’s autograph album will change their and their families’ lives forever: a poem that, after Cecil is killed in the Great War and his reputation burnished, will become a touchstone for a generation, a work recited by every schoolchild in England. Over time, a tragic love story is spun, even as other secrets lie buried—until, decades later, an ambitious biographer threatens to unearth them. Rich with Hollinghurst’s signature gifts—haunting sensuality, delicious wit and exquisite lyricism—The Stranger’s Child is a tour de force: a masterly novel about the lingering power of desire, how the heart creates its own history, and how legends are made.
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"Although the plot caught me by surprise, no hints from the brief description on the back, I really enjoyed the writing style. There was some beautiful poetry within as well. The ending made me nostalgic. Definately something worth reading."
— Kai (4 out of 5 stars)
“Masterful…Few novels so skillfully revealed what’s really said behind polite facades, and The Stranger’s Child displays that talent on a broader canvas…The brilliance of The Stranger’s Child is in how it reveals the ways bad blood and secrets muck with history. When everybody strains to say the appropriate thing, the facts suffer. That theme is perfectly suited for Hollinghurst, who can reveal a host of hidden messages in the simplest utterance (or pursed lips)…Psychologically penetrating…Brilliant.”
— Minneapolis Star Tribune“Perfect…Hollinghurst writes so carefully and subversively, often with one eyebrow raised in sardonic amusement as he satirizes the excesses of his mostly high-born protagonists.”
— Financial Times“Erudite, stylish, very amusing…There is a poignancy and a humor that is far from conventional, and a sense of an ending that outlasts the comforts of closure.”
— Bookforum“Magnificent…insightful. Hollinghurst explores how a living, breathing existence can become a biographical subject riddled with omissions and distortions…Hollinghurst divides the novel into five novella-length sections, in each of [which] he demonstrates his knack for conjuring the moments between events, the seeming down time in which the ramifications of turning points in life sort themselves out. His immersion in each period is fluid and free of false notes, collectively fusing into a single symphonic epic…[A] beautifully written, brilliantly observed, and masterfully orchestrated novel.”
— Seattle Times“With the prewar ambiance of Atonement, the manor-house mystique of Gosford Park, and the palpable sexual tension of Hollinghurst’s own The Line of Beauty, this generously paced, thoroughly satisfying novel will gladden the hearts of Anglophile readers.”
— Library Journal“Delightful…In Hollinghurst’s eagerly awaited new novel we see that if history is written by the winners, biography belongs to the survivors…Tremendously readable and engrossing.”
— Daily Mail (London)“At once classically literary and delightfully, subversively modern…The Stranger’s Child is easily [Hollinghurst’s] most subtle and most ambitious novel. Hollinghurst is a master observer of human and social behavior. As told in five sections spanning nearly a century, The Stranger's Child uses the mode to startling, marvelous effect, as his characters grow old and perish while the fractured, uncertain memories of each remain—for future inhabitants to debate and unearth.”
— San Francisco Chronicle“Lives tangle and untangle in a literate, literary mystery at the heart of World War I by Man Booker Prize winner Hollinghurst…How do we know the truth about anyone’s life? [This] carefully written, philosophically charged novel invites us to consider that question.”
— Kirkus Reviews“[Hollinghurst] writes like Henry James, but without the obfuscation; his gorgeous sentences home in on the delicate nuances of human relationships but don’t sacrifice the larger social canvas along the way.”
— Chicago Tribune“Daring…Hollinghurst’s fine new book, The Stranger’s Child—the closest thing he has written to an old-fashioned chronicle novel—contains a whole hidden literary curriculum, out of which he has fashioned something fresh and vital.”
— New York Times Book Review" Never finished it. Something I rarely do. But after six chapters I really didn't think it was worth wasting any more time on. "
— Janet, 2/6/2014" I like the prose, although the story didn't quite work for me. But it's very inventive. "
— M., 1/22/2014" I listened to this book on audio and had a hard time with the abrupt transitions between "books" that jumped forward in time. It took a few minutes after each jumpt to pick up the thread of what was going on. This might have been less jarring if I had been reading instead of listening to the story. I found the story to be OK, but the ending was abrupt and rather unsatisfying. "
— Wendy, 1/16/2014" Hollinghurst is a superb writer and his stories are always original. This book was no exception. His structure with his seamless "flashbacks" is masterful. I loved it. "
— Jenni, 1/14/2014" I love this guy. Maybe Line of Beauty was better but hard to say since that was my first... what a beautiful writer. I just want to wrap myself up in his sentences. "
— Sarah, 12/29/2013" I can't quite decide if I liked this...the jumps forward in time could be a bit confusing until you worked out how the new character (who's POV the new section was in) fit into the main story. And I'm guessing the aim was to keep us guessing about Daphne and Cecil, but it feels a bit inconclusive. "
— Susanna, 12/1/2013" The writing is good, but he's trying to do too much. The structure of the book also made me feel disconnected from the characters, few of whom were significantly enough developed to care about. "
— Leesa, 9/22/2013" Quick read. Reasonably thought-provoking. Left me feeling melancholy. "
— Emily, 8/12/2013" Interesting but very slow at times. "
— Bibi, 8/2/2013" Got over half way through it and gave up on it. quite tedious! "
— Jax, 3/29/2013" Right now I'm thinking hooray because I've just completed the entire longlist and now I can go read other stuff! But I'll put up a review shortly. "
— Nancy, 1/10/2013" Hard to follow at times, but well worth reading. "
— Jriley55, 9/12/2012" Not as accomplished as Line of Beauty, perhaps, but engrossing in its own way. "
— doug, 3/1/2012" Written beautifully but I thought it would never end. "
— Cathy, 1/8/2012" I didn't enjoy this novel as much as A Line of Beauty. It dealt with the same class of people, but everyone seems to be gay in this novel and trying very hard to hide the fact. It gets old reading that homosexuality is a dirty little secret. "
— Barbara, 12/4/2011" Slightly disappointing. I really wanted to like it, as I'm a Hollinghurst fan, but I couldn't care much about the characters. The narrative structure is clever and the writing is still good, but was somehow let down by the story and character development. "
— Fernando, 12/1/2011" One appealing character would have made a welcome contrast. Male homosexual seduction through phases of the 20th century with women bedeviled by men for not being what they want. "
— pjreads, 11/1/2011" Boring story - or at least, what I read of it. I did not have the patience to put up with the half-finished sentences and aching longings of what were initially introduced as its main characters. "
— Elisabeth, 10/27/2011" Hollinghurst has written a wonderful book that guides you through decades of a an upper class British family. Beautifully written, like sitting down with an episode of DOWNTOWN ABBEY. "
— Anita, 10/25/2011" I loved the first two sections of this book, the last 3 were still good but I did not care for them nearly as much as the first two. "
— Al, 10/24/2011" After three previous books intensely focused on individual characters, Hollinghurst jumps between characters and eras without settling down long enough to get to know anyone too well. It's a fun and enjoyable ride, but I'm not sure what I got out of it, really. "
— Ben, 10/14/2011Alan Hollinghurst is the author of several novels, including 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.