Alys, Always
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3.8 • 26 Ratings
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- £4.99
Publisher Description
'A marvellous novel. I absolutely adored it ... So subtle, funny, tender and so miraculously observed ... Utterly brilliant' Jilly Cooper
'Amazing . . . chillingly brilliant' RED
'A superbly disquieting psychological thriller ... Mordantly funny, yet chilling, this tale of an ordinary woman inveigling her way into a position of power is compulsive reading' SPECTATOR
They have everything she wants...
Frances is a thirty-something lowly sub-editor, but her routine, colourless existence is disrupted one winter evening when she happens upon the aftermath of a car crash and hears the last words of the driver, Alys Kyte.
When Alys's family makes contact in an attempt to find closure, Frances is given a tantalising glimpse of a very different world: one of privilege and possibility. The relationships she builds with the Kytes will have an impact on her own life, both professionally and personally, as Frances dares to wonder whether she might now become a player in her own right ...
'A suspensful portrait of the outsider and a satisfyingly bitchy send-up of literary London' GUARDIAN
'Frances is a fascinating creation: determined, deceitful, intriguingly complex and believably drawn ... This deeply unsettling but eminently readable story is one that will linger in the memory' OBSERVER
'Lane's take on contemporary class is so sharply observed that it becomes almost satirical: the perennial theme of social climbing gets a superb new treatment in her highly entertaining, slightly chilling tale of a cuckoo in the nest' SUNDAY TIMES
'Superbly, even poetically written with an almost feverish hyper-realism, this All About Eve for our times misses no telling detail of the difference between the entitled and unentitled classes... A brilliant idea, brilliantly realised. I loved it, I loved it. I've run out of superlatives and all that remains to say is that I wish I was you; I wish I hadn't read it and had that pleasure to come' Wendy Holden DAILY MAIL
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Lane's wry debut delves into the political machinations of London's literary scene. While driving home one night, Frances Thorpe comes upon an overturned car. She stays with the injured driver, the middle-aged Alys Kyte, until help arrives. Alys dies on the scene, and Frances realizes she's heard the woman's last words. When Alys's family pursue Frances for closure, she learns that Alys was the wife of bestselling author Laurence Kyte. As an assistant at the books desk of a failing newspaper, Frances is familiar with his work, and a little starstruck. Talking to Frances seems to comfort the Kytes, particularly Polly, Alys's college-bound daughter. As Frances spends more time with the family, the literati take note. What began as a dutiful visit to a grief-stricken family blooms into opportunity, and Frances quickly finds herself juggling ambition with honest affection for the Kytes, which becomes greatly more complicated when her attraction to Laurence turns out to not be entirely one-sided. Lane outlines Frances's slow evolution from doormat to mercenary with dry humor and a sincere, if less than reliable, narrator.
Customer Reviews
alys, always
I really enjoyed this - after seeing a recommendation in a Sunday paper I wasn't sure what to expect but it had me totally absorbed. I read the book in two days, really, really worth reading!
Below average read
Very disappointing read for me. You are reading it and expecting for something to happen, for a twist or something exciting..... But instead you are left with the question 'is that it?' Nothing special about it. Waste of time.