She's Leaving Home
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Review
'The author's astute observation underpins her clever, sometimes funny, sometimes poignant evocation of a coming of age' (Elizabeth Buchan Sunday Times )
'Bakewell is at her best evoking the excitement of the early days of television. Her most effective portraits are those of the Granada Studios. Bakewell vividly evokes the modernity of the building in Manchester, the vibrant atmosphere and the mingling of staff in the canteen . . . Bakewell's attention to detail is impeccable . . . [An] affectionate conjuring of an era gone by' (Samira Shackle New Statesman )
'Plenty of wry humour. Many of Joan Bakewell's observations and anecdotes also convey the distinct impression of personal experience - particularly once timid Martha reaches Liverpool, where she finds herself surprisingly at home among her new bohemian friends, her horizons broadened by such heady delights as poetry readings, CND protests, sex and Earl Grey tea' (Amber Pearson Daily Mail )
An accomplished writer of fiction on the evidence of this, her second novel . . . Bakewell conjures up Liverpool and a dreary nearby town in the early Sixties, sensitively portraying through her characterisation an era on the cusp between post-war privation and Sixties hedonism . . . Bakewell does capture both the intense self-absorption of the young and the disappointments of middle age in what is a very readable and perceptive novel (Vanessa Berridge Daily Express ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
'Bakewell is at her best evoking the excitement of the early days of television. Her most effective portraits are those of the Granada Studios. Bakewell vividly evokes the modernity of the building in Manchester, the vibrant atmosphere and the mingling of staff in the canteen . . . Bakewell's attention to detail is impeccable . . . [An] affectionate conjuring of an era gone by' (Samira Shackle New Statesman )
'Plenty of wry humour. Many of Joan Bakewell's observations and anecdotes also convey the distinct impression of personal experience - particularly once timid Martha reaches Liverpool, where she finds herself surprisingly at home among her new bohemian friends, her horizons broadened by such heady delights as poetry readings, CND protests, sex and Earl Grey tea' (Amber Pearson Daily Mail )
An accomplished writer of fiction on the evidence of this, her second novel . . . Bakewell conjures up Liverpool and a dreary nearby town in the early Sixties, sensitively portraying through her characterisation an era on the cusp between post-war privation and Sixties hedonism . . . Bakewell does capture both the intense self-absorption of the young and the disappointments of middle age in what is a very readable and perceptive novel (Vanessa Berridge Daily Express ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Book Description
* The wonderful new novel from Joan Bakewell, author of the acclaimed All the Nice Girls
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Martha aged 16 goes to live in a Liverpool commune in the early 1960s.She is close to her dad but has no female friends which would have made the book lighter and full of domestic/social detail.I lapped up the scenes about her bitter mum Beattie who remembers the war as being the best days of her life.
I could take or leave the CND sections and the saga of her dad and his job at the cinema.
Could have been better.
I could take or leave the CND sections and the saga of her dad and his job at the cinema.
Could have been better.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Joan Bakewell's second novel is set in Staveley and in Liverpool at the beginning of the 1960s - an iconic decade when music, clothes, attitudes and morals started to change. Martha Clayton is sixteen years old when the novel begins, dressed in an outgrown school gabardine coat, worn over a hand knitted sweater and a fawn tweed skirt - when really she'd much rather be wearing black drainpipe trousers and a sleeveless roll neck sweater (a la Audrey Hepburn or even Juliette Greco). Her father, Eddie, a projectionist at the local cinema, immerses himself in Hollywood fantasies (someone once told him he resembled Gary Cooper) whilst her mother, Beattie stays at home, lamenting her lost youth.
Martha longs to escape and break free from the constraints of her background and, after an evening out watching a new band play at a local venue, she packs her bags and travels to Liverpool to stay with friends she has only just recently met. There, she starts what she believes to be an exciting new life, involving visits to coffee bars and night clubs, listening to the latest music (a mention of The Cavern and The Beatles, of course) and participating in CND marches in order to ban the bomb.
Joan Bakewell has been both a successful broadcaster and journalist and, as one would expect, this is a competently written book with a pleasant, cosy feel to it. An older friend of mine who remembers the early 60s, and who started reading this book immediately I had finished it, said it gave her a nice, nostalgic feeling and she thought there was an authenticity to the descriptions of clothes, interiors, food and so forth.
I spent a pleasant evening reading this book, but nostalgia aside, I have to say that, for me, this novel lacked a strong narrative drive. If you experienced the 1960s for yourself, this book may bring back some nice memories of that time; however, if you like your reading material to have a little more substance or grittiness to it, and you are interested in reading about life in the late 50s/early 6os, you might like to try:The L-Shaped Room and A Kind of Loving or perhaps Saturday Night and Sunday Morning.
3 Stars.
Martha longs to escape and break free from the constraints of her background and, after an evening out watching a new band play at a local venue, she packs her bags and travels to Liverpool to stay with friends she has only just recently met. There, she starts what she believes to be an exciting new life, involving visits to coffee bars and night clubs, listening to the latest music (a mention of The Cavern and The Beatles, of course) and participating in CND marches in order to ban the bomb.
Joan Bakewell has been both a successful broadcaster and journalist and, as one would expect, this is a competently written book with a pleasant, cosy feel to it. An older friend of mine who remembers the early 60s, and who started reading this book immediately I had finished it, said it gave her a nice, nostalgic feeling and she thought there was an authenticity to the descriptions of clothes, interiors, food and so forth.
I spent a pleasant evening reading this book, but nostalgia aside, I have to say that, for me, this novel lacked a strong narrative drive. If you experienced the 1960s for yourself, this book may bring back some nice memories of that time; however, if you like your reading material to have a little more substance or grittiness to it, and you are interested in reading about life in the late 50s/early 6os, you might like to try:The L-Shaped Room and A Kind of Loving or perhaps Saturday Night and Sunday Morning.
3 Stars.
4 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
I loved this book. I had heard it reviewed on Womans Hour and because it is based on Stockport (the town I grew up in) I had to give it a go. I found it to be warm and thought provoking as it travels through Martha's quest for freedom and independance. Very lovely. Give it a go!
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