Prospect Hill

by Richard Francis

Overview

Fans of Jonathan Coe will love this extraordinary panoramic novel, which turns upon the whirligig of life that is Costford, a North Western town, in 1970.

Costford, a brash north of England town. It's 1970 and young Trevor Morgan has a magical smile and large ambitions. But his marriage is in crisis, and he seeks help from an unexpected quarter: feisty middle-aged May Rollins. May is feeling the stress of living with the demented mother she has always hated. Strange things start happening: she spots a lollipop lady at eight o'clock on an August evening; her TV converts to colour of its own accord; and mother takes to wandering off, with murderous intent, when the minder, May's stepdaughter Cherry, is not looking.

May and Trevor are political enemies, at odds over a controversial plan to build council flats at Prospect Hill, but their relationship takes a shocking – and ambiguous – twist. Meanwhile Art Whiteside, a predatory estate agent who believes in true love, complicates affairs on both town and home fronts.

With dazzling ingenuity, Richard Francis catches the whirligig of urban life at the very moment when contemporary society was struggling into being. His comic and poignant novel conjures up the fumbled negotiations we make between our public and private lives, evoking the pain and pleasure of husbands, wives, and lovers, of parents and children – and depicting a personal and communal quest for the meaning of home.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780007141104
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	11/06/2009
Edition description:	Revised ed.
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	5.06(w) x 7.81(h) x 0.88(d)

About the Author

Richard Francis is a novelist, broadcaster and academic, who taught American Literature for a number of years at Manchester University where he is currently a visiting professor. He is the author of ‘Transcendental Utopias’, a study of American communities, and his two most recent novels are ‘Judge Sewell’s Apology’ and ‘Prospect Hill’. He teaches on the MA in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University College.

Editorial Reviews

'An inspired attempt at reinventing that time-limned genre, the English provincial novel.' Independent

'Readers will like this. What makes Francis's books so satisfying is his bracing mixture of cool observation of foibles with real tenderness for his characters.' Sunday Times

'An extremely readable and very funny book. This is a world where everything is known, even the unexpected…it is reliable, warm, and inescapable.' TLS

‘Francis has a fine knack of giving voice to the voiceless…Stockport may not be the centre of the universe, but for Francis it is fertile soil and he seems happily rooted. “Prospect Hill” is further shining evidece that he has nowhere to stay but put.’ Guardian

‘The prose combines close observations, Northern slang and fizzing but unforced one-liners to winningly breezy effect… A big, good-hearted piece of literary entertainment.’ Sunday Telegraph

From the Publisher

Life is a series of accidents-that just gets weirder when you throw in politics. Britisher Francis (Ann the Word, 2001, etc.) opens with a wry note averring that his setting, the Manchester suburb of Costford, lies "in exactly the position occupied by Stockport in the real world." The two places share the same gray skies and-at least in 1970-the same sooty air. Presumably, the people of real-world northern England share the spirit of those in Costford, too, who aren't at all content with their lot, though not exactly miserable. They make do with the hands they've been dealt, for better or worse, and keep that stiff upper lip even when they're snogging behind their spouses' backs. The tale centers on May, a world-weary Tory politico charged with caring for her senile mother, who has taken to undressing at inappropriate moments. May has had an affair with Trevor, a conflicted Labourite much infatuated with women in general: "Funnily enough he began to have the occasional fantasy about Ann, despite the fact that her sex appeal was zero. It wasn't a question of whether she was attractive or not, but simply that she seemed to give out no signals at all. Perhaps that in the end became a sort of appeal." Trevor and May grope inexpertly by night, and lock horns by day over a planned housing project that will make a good portion of Costford a high-rise slum, maybe posing a menace to aircraft as well. Both activities seem to make them happy. Meanwhile, the rest of Costford goes about trying to cash in on the housing-estate deal, find new loves, keep the loves they have, or sneak off to warmer climes. Until, that is, tragedy strikes. A veddy British story for fans of Amis pere et fils, MalcolmBradbury, and even Dickens. Nicely done. Agent: Charles Walker/PFD

Kirkus Reviews