The Summer of a Dormouse

The Summer of a Dormouse

Hardback (02 Nov 2000)

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Publisher's Synopsis

One day John Mortimer is checking a reference in his "Complete Shakespeare" when the page falls open in the middle of "Henry VI, Part II" and his eye catches hold of two lines: "This evil here shall be my substitute; For that John Mortimer which now is dead...";Though the room goes suddenly cold, Shakespeare's acter is of course another person in another place, and "this" John Mortimer -novelist, playwright, erstwhile barrister and scourge of both Tories and New Labour - happily lives on through another gloriously full year which involves working with Franco Zeffirelli ("Darling, I rely on you ... I ask you to save my life!"), raising the Lottery-matching money needed to rebuild the Royal Court Theatre, chairing the committee that will advise on the momentous decision as to who or what will go on the empty plinth in Trafalgar Square, and lunching with old lags and captains of industry in Wormwood Scrubs.;Yet there is no holding back the tide of physical afflictions that come at Sir John through the year. His father takes most of the blame - from him he inherited bronchial asthma, glaucoma and a tendency for his retinas to become detached - but sex and flowers share the responsibility too. Between them they account for a couple of falls that necessitate the occasional use of a wheelchair (quite handy, actually, at airpoirts, though a bit of a trial at cocktail parties) and strategies of almost military proportions to cross a room. The falls also make the putting on of socks an impossible task, unalleviated by the strange machine invented for that purpose that suddenly arrives in the post from New Zealand.;Public and private, poignant and frank, but above all wonderfuly funny, "The Summer of a Dormouse" is vivid testimony to the pleasures and pains of old age.

About the Publisher

Viking

Viking

Viking publishes the widest possible range of literary fiction and non-fiction. Our fiction list includes John le Carr?, Nick Hornby, Will Self, Colm T?ib?n, Nicole Krauss, William Trevor, Catherine O' Flynn, Jonathan Coe, and Joshua Ferris. In non-fiction, the range covers current affairs, history, biography, memoir, narrative non-fiction, music and sport. Our authors include Antony Beevor, Andrew Rawnsley, Mark Bostridge, Sarah Bradford, Saul David, Catherine Bailey, Lynn Barber, Claire Tomalin and John Stubbs.

Book information

ISBN: 9780670891061
Publisher: Penguin Group (UK)
Imprint: Viking
Pub date:
DEWEY: 828.91409
DEWEY edition: 21
Language: English
Number of pages: 212
Weight: 483g
Height: 243mm
Width: 162mm
Spine width: 24mm