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The Stranger's Child
The Stranger's Child | Alan Hollinghurst
10 posts | 16 read | 13 to read
The Strangers Child is Alan Hollinghursts masterpiece, the book that cements his position as one of the finest novelists of our time. In its scope, intelligence and elegance. Sixteen-year-old Daphne Sawle is reading Tennyson in a hammock in the garden of Two Acres, the family home in suburban London. Her brother George arrives to visit with his Cambridge friend Cecil Valance, a handsome, assured and sometimes outrageous young man with a burgeoning reputation as a poet. After a tantalizing and dramatic weekend Cecil writes a long poem in Daphnes autograph album as a parting gift. It is titled Two Acres, and both Daphne and George (whose feelings for Cecil also go well beyond mere friendship) immediately see how important the poem is but none of them can foresee the complex and lasting effects it will have on all their lives. When the next section of the novel begins, everything has changed: Daphne is married to Cecils brother Dudley Valance; George to a historian named Madeleine; and Cecil is dead, killed by a sniper in World War One. A Cabinet officer and man of letters named Sebastian Stokes is compiling an edition of Cecils poems. He is especially curious about Cecils personal (and passionate) letters and unpublished poems, papers that seem to have gone missing. The book leaps forward to a party to celebrate Daphnes seventieth birthday. We meet Peter Rowe, a music teacher, and his boyfriend, Paul Bryant, a bank employee with a feeling for Cecils poetry. Soon Paul is taking up an idea that Peter abandoned: to write a biography of Cecil Valance. It means making some startling discoveries about a past that the Valance family would prefer to keep in sepia and shadows. The Strangers Child is that rare thing, a historical novel whose characters, in their passions and betrayals, constantly surprise the reader, and will surely be read for generations to come.
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ChaoticMissAdventures
ChaoticMissAdventures
The Stranger's Child | Alan Hollinghurst
post image

#weeklyforecast

I am about 150 into the tagged so hoping to make a big dent in it this week.

Death of the Author is the next #CampLitsy25 read, having much higher hopes for it then the last read.

I need to tuck into Spent and get it back to the library! I grabbed Immaculate Conception on audio from the library so will start there on my daily walks.

27 likes
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KarenUK
KarenUK
The Stranger's Child | Alan Hollinghurst
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Thanks for the tag @gradcat 😊💕

#ispy a book with a green cover....

I pick the color yellow, and tag @Tex2Flo

tagged users iconHoneyBeeLee
gradcat Great job! And a lovely cover to boot, I might add! ♥️♥️♥️ 5y
39 likes1 comment
review
thebeercolonel
thebeercolonel
The Stranger's Child | Alan Hollinghurst
Pickpick

It's an Alan Hollinghurst so of course it's a gay and wonderful novel. Following the effect of a weekend and a poem on the lives of two families and those who know them over 90 years, the novel also explores British gay life over the same period.

2 likes
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CarolynM
CarolynM
The Stranger's Child | Alan Hollinghurst
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I have more unread books in my house than I could hope to read if I live to be 100, but I still can't walk past a book sale 😳🙄😬

Crazeedi Oh I hear that refrain in my head for sure! I have several Beaton books I've not gotten to yet!! 6y
readordierachel Tsundoku! As the Japanese call it. Some great finds there! 6y
LeahBergen Haha! I hear ya! 6y
See All 8 Comments
marleed I just looked and I‘m at 376 unread to 231 read. Maybe my 2020 new year resolution should be 375 unread! I am successful at my last 6 months of 2:1. 1 physically owned for every library loan. Even if I went 1:1 I wouldn‘t get through my stack for years! 6y
Freespirit Ditto... great haul xxx 6y
Rissreadswithcats I'm the same! I just wish I was a faster reader to get through them all! 6y
Ruthiella The Hollinghurst title looks like a monster! But the rest all seem doable by 100. 😜 You‘re doing your part to stimulate the economy. 6y
CarolynM @ruthiella I'm selfless that way😂😂😂 6y
63 likes8 comments
review
BarbaraBB
BarbaraBB
The Stranger's Child | Alan Hollinghurst
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Bailedbailed

I was sure I would love this book. Hollinghurst is such a good writer and I love his English-ness and his plots. At least I did in In the Line of Beauty and The Swimming Pool Library.
So I didn‘t want to give up but halfway through this one I had to admit I wasn‘t in the least interested in the parade of characters that came and went. It is more a portrait of England in the 20th century than a novel I think. For me that didn‘t work. #manbooker

BarbaraBB I read this book for #ATY2019: book by an author who has more than one book on your TBR. 6y
TrishB I‘m hoping to get to In the Line of Beauty soon! 6y
saresmoore Good to know! I really liked The Line of Beauty, too. 6y
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erzascarletbookgasm Bummer :( 6y
Cathythoughts I got a sample ( my new plan .. ) of In The Line Of Beauty last night @TrishB ... I‘ll get it for holls if I like it 👍🏻 6y
NikkiRobson73 I also bailed for some reason I wasn‘t feeling Any of the characters 6y
BarbaraBB Exactly. I was just bored by them! 6y
59 likes7 comments
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Emilymdxn
Emilymdxn
The Stranger's Child | Alan Hollinghurst
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Pickpick

A beautiful melancholy book full of quiet longing. Though I identify as queer myself I‘ve always found it difficult to enjoy the LGBT+ fiction that I see other people really enjoying - I always love these sad, subtle ones though, the old fashioned books where nothing is resolved and everything stays unsaid. I‘m sure a therapist could have a field day with why I prefer them, I just do, I think they touch me on a very deep level.

GatheringBooks hi!! you just won a prize for the #LitWorld2018GB reading challenge! here is the link: https://gatheringbooks.org/2018/07/02/monday-reading-94/ 7y
BookishMe 🎊 Congratulations 🎊 on winning the prize! 💞 7y
33 likes2 comments
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Emilymdxn
Emilymdxn
The Stranger's Child | Alan Hollinghurst
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More revision for the Booker festival next weekend! This is the perfect book to read on a hot summer day in Oxford. Very Brideshead.

24 likes
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Emilymdxn
Emilymdxn
The Stranger's Child | Alan Hollinghurst
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Here‘s a brand new 600 page #chunkster from my #tbr! I adored the Line of Beauty sooo much I just got tickets to hear the author speak in a few months but I thought I‘d enjoy the talk more if I try to read a few more things by him first. They all seem super long but I‘m in the mood for a chunky book!

#readingresolutions

Vikkiha He is such a beautiful writer. 7y
Emilymdxn @Vikkiha agreed! 💖 7y
26 likes2 comments
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jenniferw88
jenniferw88
The Stranger's Child | Alan Hollinghurst
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#stripes #JuneBookBugs @RealLifeReading

88 likes2 stack adds
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jenniferw88
jenniferw88
The Stranger's Child | Alan Hollinghurst
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#juneprideweek I'm going to try to get at least one LGBTQ+ author into each post. #gaypride. @NovelDescent @howlinglibraries

TheLondonBookworm Awesome! Such a good idea 💡 ❤️💛💚💙💜🖤 8y
TbrandBeyond Great photo ❤️💚💙💜💛 8y
105 likes2 comments