Jigsaw (original 1989; edition 2005)

by Sybille Bedford

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349	3	73,940	(4.21)	15
This intensely remembered, partly autobiographical novel, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1989, describes the childhood of Billi, a girl growing up in Europe between the wars. When her father dies, she swaps life in a run-down German château for an exhilarating existence with her beautiful, talented and unreliable mother on the French Riviera.Sent away to England for schooling, the gypsy-like Billi ricochets between short-lived tutors and a life of reading, friends and public lectures. Returning to the Mediterranean, her unorthodox education - intellectual, emotional and sexual - continues among the vibrant community of artists, exiles and intellectuals who have colonised the coast, coaxing her towards a life of literature.… (more)

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Member:	SandDune
Title:	Jigsaw
Authors:	Sybille Bedford
Info:	ROSE BARING AND BARN (2005), Edition: New Ed, Paperback, 368 pages
Collections:	Your library
Rating:
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Work Information

Jigsaw: An Unsentimental Education by Sybille Bedford (1989)

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The Balkan Trilogy by Olivia Manning (shaunie)
shaunie: The sense of place in each is amazing; taken as novels Manning's work is superior. At least they were actually published as fiction rather than Bedford's self-important (and confusing) fictionalised biography.

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Jigsaw. An unsentimental education is a(n) (auto-) biographical novel, describing the period from the early to mid-Twentieth Century particularly the 1920s. Unfortunately, much less attention is paid to the Huxleys than I had hoped, perhaps because the author had already written a biography of Aldous Huxley. The book doesn't really take off until about page 80. Very lyrical and inspiring. Surprisingly, this book was first published in 1989, and the introduction to this edition, written in 1999 is by the author herself. (

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edwinbcn | Nov 13, 2018 |

Writing about the 1920, Sybille Bedford writes about another world, her life as a young woman at that tme. She portrays a chaotic childhood, living with her father, then her mother, running away from home. She gives us exquisite portraits of people she meets in all the different places she lives.
As a teenager, she seems to live an idyllic life moving seamlessly between London and the south of France. However, the book gets darker and more emotional, although always with some reserve.
An interesting and well written book. (

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CarolKub | Oct 17, 2011 |

surprise package - strong sense of life and place, couldn't put it down and didn't want it to finish! (

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jane27 | Aug 17, 2007 |

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New York Review Books Classics

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Awards

Booker Prize (Longlist – 1989)

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Canonical title

Original title

Alternative titles

Original publication date

1989

People/Characters

Aldous Huxley

Maria Huxley

Important places

Important events

Jazz Age

World War II

Related movies

Epigraph

Dedication

To
ALLANAH HARPER
For half a century

First words

A first coherent memory is being wheeled through leafy streets in a pram that felt too small for me (I was well able to walk).

Quotations

'In the end most things in life
- perhaps all things - turn out
to be appropriate.'
- Anthony Powell

'The way things looked before
later events made them look different.
And this is as much a part of history
as the way things actually were.'
- Robert Kee

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

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▾Book descriptions

This intensely remembered, partly autobiographical novel, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1989, describes the childhood of Billi, a girl growing up in Europe between the wars. When her father dies, she swaps life in a run-down German château for an exhilarating existence with her beautiful, talented and unreliable mother on the French Riviera.Sent away to England for schooling, the gypsy-like Billi ricochets between short-lived tutors and a life of reading, friends and public lectures. Returning to the Mediterranean, her unorthodox education - intellectual, emotional and sexual - continues among the vibrant community of artists, exiles and intellectuals who have colonised the coast, coaxing her towards a life of literature.

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