Please note: In order to keep Hive up to date and provide users with the best features, we are no longer able to fully support Internet Explorer. The site is still available to you, however some sections of the site may appear broken. We would encourage you to move to a more modern browser like Firefox, Edge or Chrome in order to experience the site fully.

Supporting your high street Find out how »
At the Jerusalem, Paperback / softback Book

At the Jerusalem Paperback / softback

Paperback / softback

Only a few left - usually despatched within 24 hours

Description

'A very funny book, but never jeering, full of pity, but unsentimentally harsh with the tragedy of old age which institutional kindness cannot cushion' Financial Times.

Following the death from leukaemia of her daughter, Celia, Mrs Gadny goes to live with her sullen stepson Henry.

But she finds little affection or contentment either with him, or with his selfish wife Thelma, or with their ungrateful children.

She is sent to an old people's home, 'The Jerusalem', a converted workhouse, green-and-white-tiled.

Mrs Gadny is repulsed and humiliated by the home and its inmates: women like acid-tongued Miss Trimmer, the vulgar toothless Mrs Affery, and Mrs O'Blath with her hysterical laughter.

Retreating from the kindness offered her by the nurses and the friendly Mrs Capes, she withdraws into her memories, but even their fragmented recollection provides small comfort.

Mrs Gadny's only escape from 'The Jerusalem' lies in her own crumbling consciousness.

Paul Bailey is sensitive to the exact nuance of conversation, the precise detail that can create an environment or a mood, and draw the reader into it.

His book is an exquisitely defined miniature whose impression will not easily be forgotten.

With an introduction by Colm Tóibín.

Information

Save 0%

£8.99

£8.95

Only a few left - usually despatched within 24 hours
Add to Basket
Sign in to add to wishlist
 
Free Home Delivery

on all orders

 
Pick up orders

from local bookshops

Information