Heaven and Earth: A Novel

by Frederic Raphael

After his son is violently attacked, Gideon Shand, a writer and lecturer, decides to move his family near a friend's, but, unexpectedly, problems soon develop between the two families

310 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1985

About the author

Writer, critic and broadcaster, Frederic Raphael was educated at Charterhouse School and at St John's College, Cambridge. He has written several screenplays and fifteen novels. His The Glittering Prizes was one of the major British and American television successes of the 1970s.

Reviews

[Henry Gee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too clever by half. Or maybe five-eighths. If this was the only exposure I’d ever had to this author I’d say he was the most insufferable intellectual poseur.

[Bibi Rose · Rating 2 out of 5]

God, the dialogue. Everything these characters say is a schtick. Does anyone enjoy this after the first few pages?

I gave this two stars on the assumption that Raphael is deliberately making the point that the way these guys talk is keeping them from communicating. "Can't you say anything straight?" someone says to one of them. Indeed.