Learning to Talk: Short stories and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle . Learn more

Buy New

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
or
Amazon Prime free trial required. Sign up when you check out. Learn more
Buy Used
Used - Good See details
Price: £3.42

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Learning to Talk: Short stories
 
 
Start reading Learning to Talk: Short stories on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Learning to Talk: Short stories [Paperback]

Hilary Mantel
3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
Price: £5.99 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
You Save: £2.00 (25%)
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.
Only 4 left in stock--order soon (more on the way).
Want guaranteed delivery by Friday, June 1? Choose Express delivery at checkout. See Details

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition £4.99  
Paperback £5.99  
Amazon.co.uk Trade-In Store
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details.

Frequently Bought Together

Learning to Talk: Short stories + Giving up the Ghost: A memoir + Beyond Black
Price For All Three: £17.45

Show availability and delivery details

Buy the selected items together
  • In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

  • Giving up the Ghost: A memoir £6.29

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

  • Beyond Black £5.17

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions


Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought


Product details

  • Paperback: 176 pages
  • Publisher: Fourth Estate (7 July 2003)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0007166443
  • ISBN-13: 978-0007166442
  • Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 12.8 x 1.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 81,832 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Hilary Mantel
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.

Visit Amazon's Hilary Mantel Page

Product Description

Review

'Mercilessly funny' Daily Telegraph

‘Mantel writes with wit, compassion and great elegance.' Independent on Sunday

On ‘Giving Up the Ghost’:

'Like Lorna Sage's BAD BLOOD, GIVING UP THE GHOST is a story of childhood that is also a piece of history. Hilary Mantel's self-portrait is a masterpiece of wit, but it conjures up a time and a place and an epoch of female experience with razor-edged sobriety. That past, so thoroughly vanished, is made to live again here – disclosed, cannily and heartbreakingly, as once it too yielded up its author's mind.' Rachel Cusk

‘What a remarkable writer she is. She is piercingly, even laceratingly observant, and every remembered detail has the sharpness of a good photograph. And yet for all its brilliance of detail and its black comedy the memoir is heavy with atmophere. It's a very startling and daring memoir; the more I read it the more unsettling it becomes.’ Helen Dunmore

‘I was riveted. It’s raw, it’s distressing and it’s full of piercing insights into a novelist’s mind.’ Margaret Forster

Sue Gaisford, Independent on Sunday

'Hilary Mantel writes with wit, compassion and great elegance.'

Inside This Book (Learn More)
Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Search inside this book:

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)
 
(26)
(16)

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?


Customer Reviews

4 star
0
3 star
0
1 star
0
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I bow to no-one in my admiration of Hilary Mantel. I have re-read several of her books and consider her one of the UK's best living writers. But I didn't like this book. Partly this was because it was unclear whether the stories were fictional or factual, as they seemed to draw so heavily (and directly) on autobiographical material I've already read. And also because (as a result of that) there was little new here. It felt recycled, and was a real disappointment.
The title story was an exception, however, a real gem that had me snorting aloud with laughter on the train.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
31 of 36 people found the following review helpful
an ordinary childhood 28 Aug 2003
Format:Paperback
I've been reading this books slowly, story by story, allowing each to reverberate in my mind. Parts, like the elocution lessons and the sense of being different, awake complex memories which in turn interact with the complex layering of the stories themselves.
I don't usually like short stories. Often I dismiss them after reading and turn to something weightier. These are insistent and I won't forget.
These stories put the ordinary experience of being an intelligent, working class child at their centre. (Many people are intelligent; most are consigned to the margins of British society.)
Hilary Mantel is not just intelligent and acutely observant; she may also be the best writer of English prose alive today.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

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


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums


Listmania!


Look for similar items by category


Look for similar items by subject


Feedback


Amazon.co.uk Privacy Statement Amazon.co.uk Delivery Information Amazon.co.uk Returns & Exchanges