Billy Liar on the Moon (1975)
Keith Waterhouse
With a new introduction by Alice Ferrebe
Book Description
Keith Waterhouse's comic masterpiece Billy Liar (1959) introduced us to Billy Fisher, a seventeen-year-old undertaker's clerk whose inability to tell the truth led him into constant (and often hilarious) trouble with his parents, his employer, and his three girlfriends. It was a smash success, becoming a bestseller and winning widespread acclaim for both the novel and the classic film adaptation.
In this 1975 sequel, Billy is thirty-three but still hasn't grown out of his propensity for lying. Stuck in a loveless marriage in a dismal town, where he has a dead-end job in local government, Billy seeks escape through his affair with Helen, who is also unhappily married. But once again he finds himself in danger of being undone by his lies: vodka martinis charged to his expense account, a wise-cracking alter ego named Oscar, a false police report about a stolen set of nonexistent golf clubs, an imaginary cat named 'Mr Pussy-paws' . . . Now the all-important town festival is approaching, but instead of doing the planning, Billy is busy trying to keep ahead of the suspicions of his wife, the police, and Helen's jealous husband. It all leads up to a disastrous and uproarious conclusion that The Times called 'side-achingly, laugh-aloud funny'. This edition includes a new introduction by Alice Ferrebe.
Keith Waterhouse
With a new introduction by Alice Ferrebe
Book Description
Keith Waterhouse's comic masterpiece Billy Liar (1959) introduced us to Billy Fisher, a seventeen-year-old undertaker's clerk whose inability to tell the truth led him into constant (and often hilarious) trouble with his parents, his employer, and his three girlfriends. It was a smash success, becoming a bestseller and winning widespread acclaim for both the novel and the classic film adaptation.
In this 1975 sequel, Billy is thirty-three but still hasn't grown out of his propensity for lying. Stuck in a loveless marriage in a dismal town, where he has a dead-end job in local government, Billy seeks escape through his affair with Helen, who is also unhappily married. But once again he finds himself in danger of being undone by his lies: vodka martinis charged to his expense account, a wise-cracking alter ego named Oscar, a false police report about a stolen set of nonexistent golf clubs, an imaginary cat named 'Mr Pussy-paws' . . . Now the all-important town festival is approaching, but instead of doing the planning, Billy is busy trying to keep ahead of the suspicions of his wife, the police, and Helen's jealous husband. It all leads up to a disastrous and uproarious conclusion that The Times called 'side-achingly, laugh-aloud funny'. This edition includes a new introduction by Alice Ferrebe.
reviews
‘The funniest book I've read for years’ – The Times (London)
‘Among the few great writers of our time’ – Auberon Waugh, The Independent
‘Well written and amusing’ – Library Journal
‘Among the few great writers of our time’ – Auberon Waugh, The Independent
‘Well written and amusing’ – Library Journal
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BOOK DETAILS
ISBN: 1941147542 ISBN-13: 978-1941147542 $17.99 US, 194 pp. Trade paper Published 2015 |
Due to copyright restrictions, this title is only available to U.S. customers.
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AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Keith Waterhouse was born in 1929 in Leeds. He left school at 14 and worked as a cobbler’s assistant and then an undertaker’s clerk before getting a job in 1950 as a junior reporter for the Yorkshire Evening Post. Waterhouse would remain active in journalism for the rest of his life, but also began a second career, writing fiction in his spare time. His first novel, There is a Happy Land, was published in 1957 and drew on his childhood growing up in poverty on a council estate. His second novel, Billy Liar (1959), was a major success, winning critical acclaim and becoming a bestseller; it is now considered a modern classic. With his friend Willis Hall, Waterhouse adapted Billy Liar for the stage and later wrote the screenplay for a 1963 film adaptation, which many believe is one of the best British films ever made. The novel also inspired a musical, a television series, and a sequel, Billy Liar on the Moon (1975).
Waterhouse continued to collaborate with Willis Hall over the next twenty-five years, writing numerous plays and television scripts, and also wrote plays on his own, including Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell, a major success when it opened in 1989 with Peter O’Toole in the starring role.
Waterhouse’s prolific output includes numerous well-received comic novels, including Jubb (1963), Office Life (1978) and Bimbo (1990), as well as two volumes of memoirs, City Lights (1994) and Streets Ahead (1995). He was also very well known for his writings on English language and usage and for his columns in the Daily Mirror and Daily Mail. He was appointed CBE in 1991 and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He died in 2009.
Waterhouse continued to collaborate with Willis Hall over the next twenty-five years, writing numerous plays and television scripts, and also wrote plays on his own, including Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell, a major success when it opened in 1989 with Peter O’Toole in the starring role.
Waterhouse’s prolific output includes numerous well-received comic novels, including Jubb (1963), Office Life (1978) and Bimbo (1990), as well as two volumes of memoirs, City Lights (1994) and Streets Ahead (1995). He was also very well known for his writings on English language and usage and for his columns in the Daily Mirror and Daily Mail. He was appointed CBE in 1991 and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He died in 2009.