Join Amazon Prime and get unlimited Free One-Day Delivery. Already a member? Sign in.

 

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
More Buying Choices
25 used & new from £4.19

Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
The Facts of Life
 
See larger image
 

The Facts of Life (Paperback)

by Patrick Gale (Author)
3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
RRP: £8.99
Price: £6.99 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
You Save: £2.00 (22%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk. Gift-wrap available.

Want guaranteed delivery by Saturday, July 11? Choose Express delivery at checkout. See Details
17 new from £4.30 8 used from £4.19
Other Editions: RRP: Our Price: Other Offers:
Hardcover 12 used & new from £3.16
Paperback £7.99 £4.31 20 used & new from £1.29

Frequently Bought Together

The Facts of Life + A Sweet Obscurity + Friendly Fire
Price For All Three: £19.37

Show availability and shipping details


Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Friendly Fire

Friendly Fire

by Patrick Gale
4.4 out of 5 stars (7)  £5.99
A Sweet Obscurity

A Sweet Obscurity

by Patrick Gale
4.0 out of 5 stars (9)  £6.39
Rough Music

Rough Music

by Patrick Gale
4.2 out of 5 stars (42)  £5.79
The Cat Sanctuary

The Cat Sanctuary

by Patrick Gale
3.5 out of 5 stars (4)  £5.99
The Aerodynamics of Pork

The Aerodynamics of Pork

by Patrick Gale
4.0 out of 5 stars (4)  £5.99
Explore similar items

Product details

  • Paperback: 560 pages
  • Publisher: HarperPerennial; New edition edition (5 Aug 2002)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0006547680
  • ISBN-13: 978-0006547686
  • Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.4 x 3.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 41,195 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #8 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > G > Gale, Patrick

Product Description

Review
'Patrick Gale offers us so much more than facts in this extraordinary blockbuster of a novel. Its exploration of family ties and tyranny is encompassed within a deft narrative. Much like the late Ivy Compton-Burnett, Gale presents us with a family saga which both questions and defies present day morality. Always fluent, Gale manages to be both brutal and witty. His analysis of the family tree is rooted in compassion and insight and expounded resoundingly well.' Time Out 'Wonderfully vivid, this novel is peopled with characters who compel you to care.' She 'Gale's best and most complex novel. Gale is both a shameless romantic and hip enough to get away with it. His moralised narrative has as its counterpart a rigorous underpinning of craft. This reads, page by page, like a superior gushy blockbuster, but has, as part of its form and subject, a sober consideration of the place of sentiment and rigour in life and art.' New Statesman 'Brilliant. Vastly readable.' Marie Claire 'It is impossible to put "The Facts of Life" down. A rural English blockbuster. It is beautifully done.' Daily Telegraph 'Deftly characterised, deeply involving and relevant. A memorable achievement.' The Times

Product Description
A composer who finds success in his later years surveys his grandchildren as they come to terms with the harsher facts of modern life. A young composer, Edward Pepper, is exiled from his native Germany by the war, struck down with TB, and left to languish in an isolation hospital. But then he falls in love with his doctor, Sally Banks, and his world is transformed. They set up home in a bizarre dodecahedral folly, The Roundel -- a potent place, which grows in significance as it bears witness to their family's tragedies and joys. The years pass, and Edward watches from this sanctuary as both his grandchildren, Jamie and Alison, fall prey to the charms of Sam, an enigmatic builder, and have to come to terms with some of the tougher facts of life.

See all Product Description

Suggested Tags from Similar Products

 (What's this?)
Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
Check a corresponding box or enter your own tags in the field below
(1)
(1)

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

The Facts of Life
45% buy the item featured on this page:
The Facts of Life 3.5 out of 5 stars (12)
£6.99
The Whole Day Through
17% buy
The Whole Day Through 3.2 out of 5 stars (35)
£3.86
Rough Music
17% buy
Rough Music 4.2 out of 5 stars (42)
£5.79
A Sweet Obscurity
11% buy
A Sweet Obscurity 4.0 out of 5 stars (9)
£6.39

 

Customer Reviews

12 Reviews
5 star:
 (2)
4 star:
 (5)
3 star:
 (2)
2 star:
 (3)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.5 out of 5 stars (12 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A novel to put things into perspective, 18 May 2000
By Jay H (Guildford, UK) - See all my reviews
Facts of Life is one of those books that stands head and shoulders above others in the AIDS genre. As previous reviewers have pointed out, its a novel of two halves, contrasting two tales of courtship from different times. It is the juxtaposition of a modern gay fairy tale (with the drop dead gorgeous Sam who I long to bump into next time I wander past a construction site) and a beautifully written tale of post war (straight) romance that adds realism and a sense of perspective. Facts of Life cleverly juggles the bad and good fortune we all have to put up with in life, but, in typical Gale style, optimism wins the day. As one has come to expect of Gale, Facts of Life is faultlessly crafted, weaving story lines and drawing the reader in like much of his other books. Rather unfortunately Facts of Life is often to be found in the gay and lesbian section of your book shop. Don't let this put you off... this is a novel for everyone. Go read.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Easy to read, but excellently crafted, 13 Jan 2000
By A Customer
The story is unusual, but the previous reviewer's suggestion that it's two books joined together, one better written than the other, seems bizarre. Effortlessly readable, the story is compelling throughout and extremely well crafted. It's not Dickens - or even Martin Amis - but it is very good, and to be recommended.

(And if Armistead Maupin liked it, you can't really argue with that, can you?)

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A great, involving read, 5 Jan 2004
Over the past year I've been working my way through Patrick Gale's novels. Yes, Rough Music is his masterpiece but you can't compare everything to it (see other reviews). I thought this book was very moving.

It is two stories and at times I couldn't really see any reason for putting them in one volume but as you get nearer the end of the second part you see that stories from both parts mirror each other. The Holocoust and AIDs, a grandfather and his grandson both in hospital and mercy killings. These things go towards making up the "facts of life". And maybe the novel also offers different ways of surviving: blocking things out,loving too much, living through other people or just passing through as the Hollywood star does.

My only complaint is that Mr Gale doesn't tie up all the ends of the novel but maybe this is deliberate. It means that you keep the lives of his characters in your mind and plot what you think should have happened. I won't give anythnig away but Alison, you must tell him!

It's about time one of Mr Gale's books was dramatised for tv and if a producedr could successfully link the two partsthis would make a great start (or what about A Sweet Obsucrity?)

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Define what the 'Facts of Life' are.
This is a book which takes you right to the middle of these characters and their lives. This is not the facts of life in its colloquial sense, this is about issues (murder,... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Joanne D'Arcy

3.0 out of 5 stars A great book with a bad cast!
Another great book by Gale but what I get again is a cast of characters that I don't care about and could quite easily dislike! Read more
Published 13 months ago by Philip Thompson

4.0 out of 5 stars I might be out of step with the other reviewers here, but this is my favourite Gale novel!
I recently bought a copy of Patrick Gale's latest novel "Notes From An Exhibition" and I thought before reading it I'd re-read this book as it has always been my favourite of... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Phil Shanklin

4.0 out of 5 stars An engrossing epic
Like Gale's most famous novel, 'Rough Music', 'The Facts of Life' features two narratives several years apart concerning the same family. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Smurfy

2.0 out of 5 stars Bewildering...
Like many of the other reviewers of this book I found it a struggle to gather together the broken strings of Part 1 and Part 2. Read more
Published on 30 Dec 2003 by Araluen

2.0 out of 5 stars I got to the end, but wondered if it was really worth it!
Again, a promising start (as so many of his other novels) but then too far fetched and ridiculous ending. Read more
Published on 2 Oct 2003 by K. Morris

4.0 out of 5 stars Brought to tears
I am not a sentimental chap really, but having spent a long hot weekend finishing off The Facts of Life and becoming so involved with the characters, particularly Alison, Jamie... Read more
Published on 11 Aug 2003 by ianhalsall

2.0 out of 5 stars Strange
I agree with a previous reviewer that this is a very strange book! The underlying theme of the story is based on homosexuality and Aids, but the characters are all just so strange... Read more
Published on 5 Jan 2003

3.0 out of 5 stars One of the oddest books I've read
Quite a strange book, indeed. The first half is a beautifully rendered story about the search for truth and identity in post-WWII England. Read more
Published on 9 Aug 1999

Only search this product's reviews



Customer Discussions

 Beta (What's this?)
This product's forum (0 discussions)
  Discussion Replies Latest Post
  No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
  [Cancel]


   
Related forums


Listmania!


Look for similar items by category


Feedback


Fun for Everyone

Christmas Gifts
Achieve over 15,000 RPM with our great range of Powerballs.

Shop the Powerball store

 

More From Patrick Gale

Rough Music

Rough Music by Patrick Gale

'Like the sea he describes so well, Patrick Gale's clear, unforced... Read more
£7.99 £5.79

 

Up to 50% off Dental Care

Braun Oral-B Professional Care 6000 Rechargeable Toothbrush - Pack of 2
Put a sparkle in your smile with up to 50% off selected Oral-B and Philips rechargeable toothbrushes.

Up to 50% off power toothbrushes

 

Treat Someone

Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificates--available in any amount from £5 to £500 With an Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate, you can get them what they want (even if you don't know what that is).

Learn more about Gift Certificates

 
Ad

Where's My Stuff?

Delivery and Returns

Need Help?

Your Recent History

  (What's this?)
You have no recently viewed items or searches.

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.

Look to the right column to find helpful suggestions for your shopping session.

Continue Shopping: Top Sellers
The Girl Who Played with Fire
Breaking Dawn (Twilight Saga)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Host
The Host by Stephenie Meyer

amazon.co.uk Amazon Home
International Sites:  United States  |  Germany  |  France  |  Japan  |  Canada  |  China
Business Programs: Sell on Amazon  |  Fulfilment by Amazon  |  Join Associates  |  Join Advantage
Customer Service  |  Help  |  View Basket  |  Your Account
About Amazon.co.uk  |  Careers at Amazon
Conditions of Use & Sale |  Privacy Notice  © 1996-2009, Amazon.com, Inc. and its affiliates