Radcliffe (1963)
David Storey
With a new introduction by Alice Ferrebe
Book Description
Leonard Radcliffe is the last scion of an ancient aristocratic family whose crumbling Gothic mansion looms high above the public housing estate where his friend, Victor Tolson, lives. Radcliffe, artistic and effete, and Tolson, rugged and masculine, find themselves strangely drawn to each other as boys, an attraction that develops into an obsessive love as they grow into men. But Tolson’s love is of a possessive, brutal kind that seeks to dominate and destroy the object of its affection, and the violence of their passion will lead to a tragic and unforgettable conclusion.
A powerful, haunting story with echoes of Wuthering Heights and the works of Poe and Dostoevsky, David Storey’s acclaimed third novel Radcliffe (1963) returns to print in this edition, which includes a new introduction by Alice Ferrebe. Storey’s Pasmore (shortlisted for the Booker Prize) and Saville (winner of the Booker Prize) are also available from Valancourt Books.
David Storey
With a new introduction by Alice Ferrebe
Book Description
Leonard Radcliffe is the last scion of an ancient aristocratic family whose crumbling Gothic mansion looms high above the public housing estate where his friend, Victor Tolson, lives. Radcliffe, artistic and effete, and Tolson, rugged and masculine, find themselves strangely drawn to each other as boys, an attraction that develops into an obsessive love as they grow into men. But Tolson’s love is of a possessive, brutal kind that seeks to dominate and destroy the object of its affection, and the violence of their passion will lead to a tragic and unforgettable conclusion.
A powerful, haunting story with echoes of Wuthering Heights and the works of Poe and Dostoevsky, David Storey’s acclaimed third novel Radcliffe (1963) returns to print in this edition, which includes a new introduction by Alice Ferrebe. Storey’s Pasmore (shortlisted for the Booker Prize) and Saville (winner of the Booker Prize) are also available from Valancourt Books.
reviews
‘Violent, shocking . . . A huge novel, the explosive story of a strange passion.’ - The Times
‘An astonishing achievement . . . A major work of art . . . Radcliffe establishes David Storey as the leading novelist of his generation.’ - Daily Telegraph
‘A brainstorm of a book; it boils in the mind long after it is done . . . full of murderous and beautiful things.’ - Sunday Times
‘It tears viciously at you one moment and sets you shivering the next, in the dark moist chill of an illusory calm.’ - Observer
‘Storey’s fiction ought to . . . secure his reputation as one of the most original writers of his generation.’ - The Guardian
‘A very skilled and very intelligent writer indeed . . . a sharp depicter and an exacting judge of shades of emotion.’ - New York Times
‘The greatest study of obsessive passion since Wuthering Heights.’ - Sunday Times
‘An astonishing achievement . . . A major work of art . . . Radcliffe establishes David Storey as the leading novelist of his generation.’ - Daily Telegraph
‘A brainstorm of a book; it boils in the mind long after it is done . . . full of murderous and beautiful things.’ - Sunday Times
‘It tears viciously at you one moment and sets you shivering the next, in the dark moist chill of an illusory calm.’ - Observer
‘Storey’s fiction ought to . . . secure his reputation as one of the most original writers of his generation.’ - The Guardian
‘A very skilled and very intelligent writer indeed . . . a sharp depicter and an exacting judge of shades of emotion.’ - New York Times
‘The greatest study of obsessive passion since Wuthering Heights.’ - Sunday Times
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BOOK DETAILS
ISBN: 1939140668 ISBN-13: 978-1939140661 $17.99 US, 338 pp. Trade paper Published 2013 |
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AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
David Storey was born in Wakefield, Yorkshire in 1933, and studied at the Slade School of Art. His first two novels were both published in 1960, a few months apart: This Sporting Life, which won the Macmillan Fiction Award and was adapted for an award-winning 1963 film, and Flight Into Camden, which won the Somerset Maugham Award. His next novel, Radcliffe (1963) met with widespread critical acclaim in both England and the United States, and during the 1960s and 70s, Storey became widely known for his plays, several of which achieved great success. He returned to fiction in 1972 with Pasmore, which won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Award and was short-listed for the Booker Prize. Saville (1976) won the Booker Prize and has been hailed by at least one critic as the best of all the Booker winners. His most recent novel is Thin-Ice Skater (2004). David Storey lives in London.