A Kestrel for a Knave (Penguin Modern Classics)
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Penguin English Library features the best novels in the English language. Get lost in the amazing stories, browse the Penguin English Library. |
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Life is tough and cheerless for Billy Casper, a disillusioned teenager growing up in a small Yorkshire mining town. Violence is commonplace and he is frequently cold and hungry. Yet he is determined to be a survivor and when he finds Kes, a kestrel hawk he discovers a passion in life. Billy identifies with her proud silence and she inspired in him the trust and love that nothing else can. Intense and raw and bitingly honest, A KETREL FOR A KNAVE was first published in 1968 and was also madeinto a highly acclaimed film, 'Kes', directed by Ken Loach.
About the Author
Barry Hines was born in the mining village of Hoyland Common, near Barnsley, South Yorkshire. Educated at Eccelsfield Grammar School, Hines then worked as an apprentice mining surveyor and played football for Barnsley before studying Physical Education at Loughborough Training College. He taught for several years in London and Yorkshire before becoming a full-time writer. Hines has written 8 other novels and television scripts.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
There were no curtains up. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
There were no curtains up. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
23 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
AKFAK contains the harsh reality of life for a boy, Billy, mistreated at home and at school and fated to work in a dead end job in the mines. His escape is his kestrel that he has reared and trained from a chick.
Hines never sweetens the story with false sentiment but keeps all the action gritty and realistic. What is surprising is that it is very easy to sympathise with Billy despite his prickliness, bad manners and violence. Hines portrays him, as a normal boy brought up in poverty without any aspirations- his bad behaviour is a product of these social elements rather than his true self.
There is a strong sense of love underneath the frustration and anger. Billy lives for his kestrel and his sense of devotion is what lifts an otherwise bleak social study to more optimistic levels. The Casper family have a strange mixture of violence, jealousy and love between them- it seems that despite the anger and threats their family must stick together.
The film, Kes, although very similar to the book and a wonderful work in its own right, has a different ending- perhaps motive enough for the film's many fans to read the book and see what really happened.
AKFAK mixes vivid descriptions of the countryside and small industrial town with fleshed out characters with great dialogue and a story that's simplicity tells a moving and plausible tale of hope and grim realism.
Hines never sweetens the story with false sentiment but keeps all the action gritty and realistic. What is surprising is that it is very easy to sympathise with Billy despite his prickliness, bad manners and violence. Hines portrays him, as a normal boy brought up in poverty without any aspirations- his bad behaviour is a product of these social elements rather than his true self.
There is a strong sense of love underneath the frustration and anger. Billy lives for his kestrel and his sense of devotion is what lifts an otherwise bleak social study to more optimistic levels. The Casper family have a strange mixture of violence, jealousy and love between them- it seems that despite the anger and threats their family must stick together.
The film, Kes, although very similar to the book and a wonderful work in its own right, has a different ending- perhaps motive enough for the film's many fans to read the book and see what really happened.
AKFAK mixes vivid descriptions of the countryside and small industrial town with fleshed out characters with great dialogue and a story that's simplicity tells a moving and plausible tale of hope and grim realism.
16 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Although written in the 1960's this book remains as poignant and striking as it was when published.Depicting the life of a teenage boy, named Billy Casper, the book covers just one day in his life. In that single day the book encapsulates the boys' dedication towards his Kestrel, his turbulant home life and troubled schooling. The brutality of life around the mines of Yorkshire is depicted perfectly and the author, once a teacher himself, paints an acurate and astute portrait of education at that time.
Throughout the entire book its main charactor is depicted struggling against the people who oppress him, his family, teachers and those who say he 'will work down the mines'. By the end of the book the reader has encoutered everything from passion, jealousy and hatred, but throughout the novel the overriding feeling is of one boy trying to survive.
22 of 25 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The book entitled,"A kestrel for a knave",is about a young,poor,unwanted boy who is trying to survive a crucial life.He is mistreated in the school and in his home by his mother,Mrs.Casper and other close and distant persons in his life.He has one friend that he relates to in this text and that is his kestrel,Kes,which he had to fight for and achieve her possesion as well.Him and the kestrel have a remarkable relationship,like no other pet and its owner.He has a dull future that entails working in the coal mines and continue running erruns for his mother and his brother,Jud.I give this book a two thumbs up and encourage all young people to read it and realize how lucky in life they are.I am 13 years old and this book has changed my life with its motivation.It has changed me by allowing me to realize how fortunate in life I am;to have parents that care,a positive environment to develop in,and the understanding that although my life is not perfect,I am more fortunate than some people in some parts of the world.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
It would have been wasted on me before now
I never read this at school, although it was a set text at GCSE for a long time. I can see why. It is short. It is powerful. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Mrs. K. A. Wheatley
A Pocket of Silence
Barry Hines was born in 1939, in a mining village called Hoyland Common in the north of England. He worked as a teacher for several years, before becoming a full-time author and... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Craobh Rua
fantastic!!!
read this as a child at school and found it while playing with my kindle so downloaded it, almost finished it now!!!!!!!
Published 16 months ago by Ms. A. Mileham
Why is this so often a set text?
At GCSE level Kestral for a Knave is very often a set text, I had the misfortune to have it inflicted on me, and I can't recall meeting anyone whom read it out of choice. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Mr. B. P. Dunbar
A delightful and softly told story
A super piece of story telling about an under privileged teenager who trains a Kestrel. Great atmosphere and narrative tension but it's so short that Hines only just gets going... Read more
Published 22 months ago by Brownbear101
Classic of the 1960's
A superbly penned story of a working class Yorkshire kid with no prospects, no mates and an unsatisfying life both at school and at home. Read more
Published on 16 May 2010 by Top Banana
A good read
I read this at school and really enjoyed it. Would like to read it again actually
Published on 18 Mar 2010 by B. Barlow
No frills
Gritty, poignant, and faintly depressing; this novel by Barnsley-born Barry Hines truly deserves to be called a Twentieth Century classic. Read more
Published on 14 May 2009 by Captain Pugwash
A Kestrel for a Knave-(KES)
A Kestrel for a Knave (KES)One of my favourite films in the 70's. I have just read the book over 30 years later and its as fresh as ever. Read more
Published on 1 Feb 2009 by D. Sivyer
Interesting and Relevant
I read this book years ago, and chose to re-read it a few weeks back, which proved well worth it.
With having family from the area of Yorkshire where the book is set, it is... Read more
Published on 24 Aug 2003 by Paul Johnson
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
