Beryl Bainbridge

Author profile

born

in Liverpool, The United Kingdom

November 21, 1934

died

July 02, 2010

gender

female

About this author

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Bainbridge was born in the port city of Liverpool in north-west England. Her agent, and her entry in Who's Who, gave the date as November 21, 1934, but records show her birth was registered early in 1933. Bainbridge herself sometimes said she struggled to remember her birth date, ever since she lied about her age so she could take a trip to France as a youngster without her parents' knowledge.

The gritty spirit of Bainbridge's home city informed her books, which blended humour, tragedy and the absurd.

'All the books I've written, even the historical ones, came from the place of my birth, the characters based on my parents and relations,' she once said.

She published more than 15 novels, including A Weekend With Claud, The Bottle Factory Outing...more Bainbridge was born in the port city of Liverpool in north-west England. Her agent, and her entry in Who's Who, gave the date as November 21, 1934, but records show her birth was registered early in 1933. Bainbridge herself sometimes said she struggled to remember her birth date, ever since she lied about her age so she could take a trip to France as a youngster without her parents' knowledge.

The gritty spirit of Bainbridge's home city informed her books, which blended humour, tragedy and the absurd.

'All the books I've written, even the historical ones, came from the place of my birth, the characters based on my parents and relations,' she once said.

She published more than 15 novels, including A Weekend With Claud, The Bottle Factory Outing, and Injury Time.'

Several drew directly on Bainbridge's own experiences. Her early career as an actress in provincial theatre provided the setting for the tragicomic An Awfully Big Adventure,' published in 1989 and made into a 1995 movie starring Alan Rickman and Hugh Grant.

As time went by, she increasingly turned to historical settings. Every Man for Himself was set aboard the Titanic and Master Georgie in the Crimean War, while According to Queeney looked at 18th-century lexicographer Samuel Johnson. Young Adolf imagined the aspiring artist Hitler in Liverpool before World War I, to comic and disturbing effect.

Bainbridge was a five-time finalist for the Booker Prize, and twice won the Whitbread literary prize.

Robustly outspoken - she was no fan of chick-lit, which she dismissed as 'froth' - Bainbridge was unsentimental about life's hardships.

In her 20s she attempted suicide, an event she later said she was ashamed to remember.

Despite her reputation as an iconoclast, Bainbridge was delighted to be made a dame, the female equivalent of a knight, by Queen Elizabeth II in 2000. The British government called her death 'a terrible loss'.

At the time of her death Bainbridge was working on 'The Girl in the Polka-Dot Dress,' a novel set around the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy.

She is survived by two daughters and a son. (less)

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Beryl Bainbridge's Books

Average rating: 3.42 · 3,324 ratings · 413 reviews · 30 distinct works · Similar authors

	Master Georgie 3.36 of 5 stars 3.36 avg rating — 539 ratings — published 1998 — 16 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Every Man for Himself 3.39 of 5 stars 3.39 avg rating — 425 ratings — published 1996 — 2 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Birthday Boys 3.87 of 5 stars 3.87 avg rating — 299 ratings — published 1991 — 12 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Bottle Factory Outing 3.29 of 5 stars 3.29 avg rating — 360 ratings — published 1974 — 18 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	An Awfully Big Adventure 3.43 of 5 stars 3.43 avg rating — 305 ratings — published 1989 — 15 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	According to Queeney 3.3 of 5 stars 3.30 avg rating — 269 ratings — published 2000 — 13 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Girl in the Polka Dot Dress 2.73 of 5 stars 2.73 avg rating — 171 ratings — published 2007 — 12 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Dressmaker 3.55 of 5 stars 3.55 avg rating — 109 ratings — published 1974 — 14 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Injury Time 3.35 of 5 stars 3.35 avg rating — 99 ratings — published 1977 — 10 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Young Adolf 3.28 of 5 stars 3.28 avg rating — 96 ratings — published 1978 — 10 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Quotes by Beryl Bainbridge

“Everything else you grow out of, but you never recover from childhood.”
― Beryl Bainbridge

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“The older one becomes the quicker the present fades into sepia and the past looms up in glorious technicolour”
― Beryl Bainbridge

4 people liked it

“...he raised his eyes above the black shapes of the trees and saw a small moon, the colour of a lemon, dragged by clouds across the sky. Moons, he thought, were so that men like himself would know they lived here on earth.”
― Beryl Bainbridge, Another Part Of The Wood

1 person liked it

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Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham

6 votes, 37.5%

Every Man for Himself by Beryl Bainbridge

3 votes, 18.8%

Wise Children by Angela Carter

3 votes, 18.8%

The Lost Estate by Alain-Fournier

3 votes, 18.8%

Heat and Dust by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala

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Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns

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Trent's Last Case by E.C. Bentley

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Beryl Bainbridge

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Beryl Bainbridge's Books