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Anita Brookner (1928–2016)

Author of Hotel du Lac

34+ Works 11,431 Members 289 Reviews 52 Favorited

About the Author

Anita Brookner was born in London, England on July 16, 1928. She received a BA in history from King's College London in 1949 and a doctorate in art history from the Courtauld Institute of Art in 1953. She went on to lecture in art at Reading University and the Courtauld Institute, where she show more specialized in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century French art. She became the first woman to be named as Slade Professor of Art at Cambridge University in 1967. Her first novel, A Start in Life, was published in 1981. Some of her other works include The Bay of Angels, The Next Big Thing, The Rules of Engagement, Latecomers, Leaving Home, Incidents in the Rue Laugier, Look at Me, and Strangers. Hotel du Lac won the Booker Prize for Fiction in 1984 and was adapted for television in 1986. She has also written scholarly works about Jacques Louis David, Jean Baptiste Greuze, and Jean-Antoine Watteau. She died on March 10, 2016 at the age of 87. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Courtesy Roberta Rood.

Series

Works by Anita Brookner

Hotel du Lac (1984) 2,767 copies
Look at Me (1981) 623 copies
A Start in Life (1981) 556 copies
Family and Friends (1985) 489 copies
A Misalliance (1986) 442 copies
Latecomers (1988) 436 copies
A Friend from England (1987) 398 copies
Brief Lives (1990) 387 copies
Providence (1982) 364 copies
Fraud (1992) 361 copies
Undue Influence (1999) 342 copies
The Bay of Angels (2001) 332 copies
Altered States (1996) 331 copies
A Closed Eye (1991) 326 copies
Incidents in the Rue Laugier (1995) 322 copies
Visitors: A Novel (1997) 322 copies
The Rules of Engagement (2003) 315 copies
A Family Romance (1993) 305 copies
The Next Big Thing (2002) 299 copies
Leaving Home (2005) 298 copies
Lewis Percy (1989) 297 copies
Falling Slowly (1998) 295 copies
Strangers (2009) 270 copies
A Private View (1994) 258 copies
Soundings (1997) 49 copies
Watteau (1900) 42 copies
Jacques-Louis David (1980) 31 copies
At the Hairdresser's (2011) 24 copies
The Stories of Edith Wharton (volume 1) (1988) — Editor — 21 copies
The Stories of Edith Wharton (volume 2) (1989) — Editor — 21 copies

Associated Works

The House of Mirth (1905) — Introduction, some editions — 9,658 copies
The Reef (1912) — Introduction, some editions — 817 copies
The Constant Nymph (1924) — Introduction, some editions — 385 copies
Eustace and Hilda: A Trilogy (1958) — Introduction, some editions; some editions — 293 copies
Troy Chimneys (1952) — Introduction, some editions — 213 copies
The Stories of Edith Wharton (1982) — Introduction, some editions — 69 copies
The Collected Stories of Edith Wharton (1998) — Introduction, some editions — 64 copies
Granta 13: After the Revolution (1984) — Contributor — 54 copies
The Letters of Gustave Flaubert: 1830-1880 (2001) — Foreword, some editions — 15 copies
Hotel du Lac [1986 film] (2003) — Original novel — 15 copies
Gauguin — Translator, some editions — 1 copy

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Common Knowledge

Canonical name
Brookner, Anita
Birthdate
1928-07-16
Date of death
2016-03-10
Gender
female
Nationality
UK
Birthplace
Herne Hill, London, England, UK
Place of death
London, England, UK
Places of residence
London, England, UK
Paris, France
Education
James Allen's Girls School, UK
King's College, London (BA|1949)
Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London (Ph.D|1953)
École du Louvre
Occupations
art historian
university professor
novelist
Organizations
Courtauld Institute of Art
University of London
University of Cambridge
Reading University
Awards and honors
Commander, Order of the British Empire (1990)
University of London (Fellow, King's College)
Booker Prize for Fiction (1984)
Agent
A. M. Heath & Co
Short biography
Anita Brookner was born in south London in 1928, the daughter of a Polish immigrant family. She trained as an art historian, and worked at the Courtauld Institute of Art until her retirement in 1988. She published her first novel, A Start in Life, in 1981 and her twenty-fourth, Strangers, in 2009. Hotel du Lac won the 1984 Booker Prize. As well as fiction, Anita Brookner has published a number of volumes of art criticism.

Members

Discussions

Anita Brookner in Virago Modern Classics (August 2013)

Reviews

excellent characterisation and psychological insight. casual cruelty, bullying, spinsterhood, wintery london...I loved it and found it so compelling.
 
Flagged
boredgames | 15 other reviews | Jan 8, 2024 |
One of Brookner's earliest novels, new to me, thanks to PaulC for mentioning. Very different tone to her more well known Hotel du Lac, but already a finely crafted novel.

Working in a medical library, Frances Hinton, a budding writer gets caught up in the world of an older couple. When another colleague joins their coterie the balance shifts, and Frances explores the situation by casting them as characters in an imagined novel.

I especially liked the final quarter of the book which I read in one sitting.

I'm trying to remember which book I read in the last couple of years that had clearly been inspired by this book.
… (more)
 
Flagged
Caroline_McElwee | 15 other reviews | Dec 23, 2023 |
2023 note:

Reread as the novel was mentioned in Daniel Schreiber's [Alone: Reflections on Solitary Living]. Probably third read. The characters are so spot on and of their era, though I can't imagine them being exactly the same now. Life has changed so much in the past 38 years. Edith would now be in her late 70s too.

An easy read but deft writing. Brookner doesn't drop a stitch. None of her characters are straightforwardly likeable, but each is a perfect hue in the painting. If it were a crime novel it would not quite, but almost be a locked room crime.… (more)
 
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Caroline_McElwee | 97 other reviews | Dec 15, 2023 |
This is an altogether fabulous book and I am shocked this was the first I'd heard of Anita Brookner! She has a way with description that makes your heart sing, and she described her characters so well- with a well-placed word or two- that you can see them and hear them. And laugh! This is a funny book, with many truths in evidence. Read it.
 
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Dabble58 | 97 other reviews | Nov 11, 2023 |

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Statistics

Works
34
Also by
12
Members
11,431
Popularity
#2,058
Rating
3.8
Reviews
289
ISBNs
585
Languages
16
Favorited
52

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