The Stars' Tennis Balls [Paperback]

Ned Maddstone has it all. He's handsome and talented; he has the love of a beautiful woman and in 1980, he stands at the brink of a glittering future. He rounds off an outstanding public school career with a sailing trip to Scotland, which is where his fortunes enter a terrifying tailspin. Determined to honour the dying wish of his sailing instructor, Ned returns to London, where the schemes of jealous classmates catapult him into a 10-year nightmare. Confined to a solitary Hell, believed dead by all those who loved him, Ned transforms from a terminally nice guy into a creature bent on revenge, a revenge both satisfying and apocalyptic.

Few writers can deliver so much in one package, but here Stephen Fry combines a riotous satire of the privileged classes with elements of the darkest thrillers. While the plot bounces from the sublime to the surreal, his characters remain acutely real. Ned's classmates, slow-witted hedonist Rufus Cade, and the Machiavellian climber Ashley Barson-Garland--who is aroused by the sight of straw boaters--are masterful creations. This novel has nothing to do with tennis, and everything to do with the cruel logic of Fate. Game, set and match to Mr Fry. - - Matthew Baylis --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

"'We are merely the stars' tennis balls, struck and banded / Which way please them' (The Duchess of Malfi, John Webster)"

‘A taut thriller… a talent for terror and suspense-writing.’ --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

'When he speaks, you listen. When he writes, you read.’ --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

'A gruesome romp through the canon of human wickedness' The Times

'We are merely the stars' tennis balls, struck and banded / Which way please them' (The Duchess of Malfi, John Webster)

For Ned, 1980 seems a blissful year. Handsome, charming, popular and talented, his life is progressing smoothly, effortlessly, happily. And when he meets the lovely Portia Fendeman his personal jigsaw appears complete. But timing is everything in life, and his life is about to change for ever.

(20040305)

‘We are merely the stars’ tennis balls, struck and banded / Which way please them’ (The Duchess of Malfi, John Webster) Pure Stephen Fry, this is the story of Ned Maddstone, a very nice young man who is about to find out just what hell it is to be one of the stars’ tennis balls. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

We are merely the stars' tennis balls, struck and banded

Which way please them

The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster

For Ned, 1980 seems a blissful year. Handsome, charming, popular and talented, his life is progressing smoothly, effortlessly, happily. And when he meets the lovely Portia Fendeman his personal jigsaw appears complete. But timing is everything in life, and his life is about to change for ever.

'Has a lightness of touch that comes only with a mastery of language.. A page-turner'

Observer

'Every bit as witty and clever as one would expect'

Mail on Sunday

'Whatever Stephen Fry does, he has it - that rare, unlearnable quality. When he speaks you listen. When he writes, you read'

Literary Review

As well as being the bestselling author of four novels, The Stars' Tennis Balls, Making History, The Hippopotamus, and The Liar, and the first volume of his autobiography, Moab is My Washpot, Fry has played Peter in Peter's Friends, Wilde in the film Wilde, Jeeves in the television series Jeeves & Wooster and (a closely guarded show-business secret, this) Laurie in the television series Fry & Laurie. (20040305)