Going Gently
by David Nobbs
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Description
Kate Thomas was beautiful, intelligent, witty, passionate and sexy. Now, at the ripe old age of ninety-nine, she is trapped in a hospital ward of sad, mad and bad old women. She escapes by playing to herself the video of her life. What a life it has been. Her six marriages have ended in suicide, a husband's adultery, another husband's deportation as a dangerous alien, a union dispute, a murder, and a natural death. But Kate's journey through the twentieth century is also a search for the show more truth - about life, death, and which of her three sons murdered her fifth husband. This is a novel rich in memorable characters, from Kate's narrow but loving Welsh family to the wild members of an artists' colony in Cornwall; from Midland piston manufacturers to an investigative journalist whose own life cannot bear investigation. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
99 year old Kate reviews her turbulent life. By the creator of Reginald Perrin. December's book in my postal book group.
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Author Information

30+ Works 1,446 Members
David Nobbs was born in Petts Wood, England on March 13, 1935. He graduated from St John's, Cambridge, where he studied English in 1958. He joined the Sheffield Star as an apprentice journalist, but soon realized it was not the type of writing we wanted to do. He moved to London when one of his sketches was accepted for a revue, One to Another, at show more the Lyric theatre. In the 1960s, he became established as a gag writer for popular performers of the day including David Frost and Frankie Howerd. His first novel, The Itinerant Lodger, was published in 1965. His other novels included Ostrich Country, A Piece of the Sky Is Missing, The Death of Reginald Perrin, The Return of Reginald Perrin, A Bit of a Do, Cupid's Darts, and The Second Life of Sally Mottram. His Reginald Perrin novels were later adapted for television as The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, which ran between 1976 and 1979. He also wrote a memoir entitled I Didn't Get Where I Am Today. He died on August 9, 2015 at the age of 80. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 2000
- People/Characters
- Kate Copson
- First words
- 'She was a very intelligent woman in her day,' said Nigel to the fat nurse with the eating disorder.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)'I must say I'm surprised,' said Timothy. 'I really felt the old girl's will-power would see her through.'
- Blurbers
- Coe, Jonathan
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 96
- Popularity
- 331,107
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.52)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 7
- ASINs
- 3



























































