Alan Sillitoe

"Smith, a defiant young rebel, inhabits the no-man's land of institutionalised Borstal. As his steady jog-trot rhythm transports him over an unrelenting, frost-bitten earth, he wonders why, for whom, and for what his is running. These stories capture the grim isolation of the working class in the English Midlands in the 1950s."--Back cover.

The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner

"Working all week at the lathe leaves Arthur Seaton with energy to spare at the weekends. A hard-drinking, hard-working rebel, he knows exactly what he wants, and how to get it. Before long his dalliances with a couple of married women make him the centre of local gossip. But then one evening he meets a young girl in a pub, and life begins to look a little less simple." "Alan Sillitoe's classic novel achieved instant critical acclaim, and now, fifty years after its first publication, it stands as one of the great works of twentieth-century British writing."--BOOK JACKET.

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning

Saturday night and Sunday morning

Arthur and Brian Seaton, one with an ailing wife, one with an emotional knapsack of failure and success, are on their way to Jenny's 70th birthday party. But there is still pleasure; and still pain.

Birthday

Keith Waterhouse

Perhaps one of the most revered works of fiction in the twentieth-century, "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner "is a modern classic about integrity, courage, and bucking the system. Its title story recounts the story of a reform school cross-country runner who seizes the perfect opportunity to defy the authority that governs his life. It is a pure masterpiece. From there the collection expands even further from the touching "On Saturday Afternoon" to the rollicking "The Decline and Fall and Frankie Buller." Beloved for its lean prose, unforgettable protagonists, and real-life wisdom, " The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner" captured the voice of a generation, and its poignant and empowering life lessons will continue to captivate and entertain readers for generations to come.

Billy Liar

Robert Murphy

Rachel Roberts

Albert Finney

Karel Reisz

Shirley Anne Field

A Nottingham factory worker who enjoys drink and a good time takes up with two women but soon has to face up to reality.

The Flame of Life

A gripping thriller set among Britain’s snowy peaks from the bestselling author of Saturday Night and Sunday Morning. Suspense, secrets, conspiracy, and entrapment come to a head in this dark allegory of the modern postwar condition. Snowbound in the remote White Cavalier Hotel in the mountains of England’s Lake District, a motley mix of strangers think they have found refuge, but instead discover a violent drama that is ready to explode. Among the mysterious guests imprisoned by the blizzard are a murderous BMW driver, a female hitchhiker, an anxious bookseller-forger, illicit lovers, aging Hells Angels bikers, a hostage of marriage, a loathsome father and son, and an IRA terrorist with a bomb-laden van. Everyone has brought along their personal baggage of guilt for crimes they have committed against society, and as they uncover one another’s secrets and unwind a conspiracy, they must also face their own selves. Taking kitchen sink realism into the depths of winter and the infernal mind of a terrorist, acclaimed British novelist and “angry young man” Alan Sillitoe creates a poignant existential investigation with a chilling twist.

A Novel

Snowstop

From one of England's greatest living writers comes a new collection of exquisitely formed stories set in life's great playground.

A Collection of Short Stories

Alligator Playground

Als een jonge radiotelegrafist bij de Britse luchtmacht uit Maleisië terugkomt, blijkt hij tbc te hebben en daardoor wordt zijn toekomst onzeker.

The Open Door

These memorable novels show the range of the bestselling author of The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner, “one of the best English writers” (The New York Times). British novelist Alan Sillitoe “powerfully depicted revolt against authority by the young and working class” in his best-known works of fiction (The Washington Post). Both The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner and Saturday Night and Sunday Morning were international bestsellers and made into acclaimed films. The prolific, award-winning author wrote over fifty books, including the three novels collected in this volume: a hard-won love story, a father-son tale of love and war, and a dystopian satire. Her Victory: Finally leaving her brutish husband, Pam flees to London, where she takes refuge in a lonely, sparsely furnished room. With a twist of the wrist, she turns on the gas and resigns herself to death, only to be saved by a neighbor, Tom, a former sailor in the Merchant Navy, who carries scars of his own. Both fighting despair, these two unlikely lovers attempt to begin a new life together and find a reason to go on. “Engrossing . . . Interesting and affecting.” —The New York Times The Widower’s Son: Leaving the coal mines for the army, Charlie Scorton never looked back. After his wife died, the career military man raised his son to be a soldier as well. Like his father, William finds a home in the army, performing heroically at Dunkirk. But soon he will be forced to answer the question his father never could: What does a soldier do when war is over? “Earnest, tenacious . . . Sillitoe retains his commendable honesty.” —Kirkus Reviews Travels in Nihilon: In Sillitoe’s biting satirical novel, Nihilon is a country where honesty is outlawed, drunk driving is mandatory, and nihilism reigns supreme. Five researchers are sent into the midst of this chaos to compile a new guidebook about the peculiar, unexplored land and its all-powerful leader, President Nil. They arrive as tourists, but they’ll soon find out it’s a lot easier to enter Nihilon than it is to escape. “Diabolically witty.” —The New York Times

Her Victory, The Widower's Son, and Travels in Nihilon

The Collected Novels Volume One

Set in WWII. Leonard, who had fought on the Somme, thought he was fancy free until he met Sophie, who was to transform his life.

A Love Story

Leonard's War

Joyce Carol Oates

Leonard Michaels

John Banville

William Trevor

Paul Bowles

Bruce Jay Friedman

Jerome Charyn

William Goldman

Malcolm Bradbury

John Updike

John McPhee

Austin Clarke

Sol Yurick

Thomas Bridges

Jay Neugeboren

George Garrett

Daniel Spicehandler

Jean Claude Van Itallie

Penelope Gilliatt

Harry D. Miller

Alfred Chester

Victor Sawdon Pritchett

Frank Tuohy

Irvin Faust

Morris Lurie

Asa Baber

Paul Breslow

Hugh Allyn Hunt

Edward Franklin

Norma Meacock

Virginia Moriconi

Shirley Schoonover

Walter Clemons

Stories from the Transatlantic Review

Men, Women and Children

In 1887, a young man leaves his home village in the Midlands, to work as a blacksmith in the Welsh coalfields. He is a successful smith but becomes a tyrannical father of eight, whom he rules with an iron fist, instilling fear and hatred. When tragedy destroys what he holds most dear, he is overwhelmed.

A Man of His Time

The loneliness of the long-distance runner

An existential saga of working-class life in a British factory town and military service in the torrid jungles of the Far East from award-winning, bestselling author Alan Sillitoe Key to the Door turns away from the boisterous pursuits of Arthur Seaton made infamous in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, and focuses instead on the quieter rebellions of his older brother, Brian. Brian’s childhood and adolescence in the grimy streets of Nottingham are shaped by the Depression-era struggles of his family, the life and culture of the factory town, and the love and bullying of his iron-willed grandfather and erratic father. When Brian reaches adulthood, he frequents the local pubs, works hard at a cardboard factory, and runs into a sticky situation with a woman named Pauline that obliges him to marry her. Soon though, he is conscripted for the postwar occupation of Malaya, and his true colors begin to show. Brian declares that he only wears his uniform to collect his paycheck; he shows contempt for the soldiers who obey the rules; he pursues a relationship with an exotic Chinese dancer; and he sends poetry into the jungle in Morse code. At once a vivid family portrait and a study of “the desolate, companionless void of protest” prevalent in postwar England, Key to the Door establishes the Seaton Novels as a broad and sweeping saga of twentieth-century British life, set against the backdrop of Nottingham. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Alan Sillitoe including rare images from the author’s estate.

Key to the Door

Alan Sillitoe

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