Kitty and Virgil
by Paul Bailey
47 Members (3.30)
On This Page
Description
A love story set in Romania and England by the author of the Booker shortlisted bestseller, 'Gabriel's Lament'. Paul Bailey's most ambitious novel yet. Kitty Crozier wakes up in a hospital ward and finds a stranger looking down at her. Thus begins the most important, most demanding, most exhilarating relationship of Kitty's life. Her lover's name is Virgil Florescu, a poet who has escaped from Ceausescu's Romania. As their liaison deepens, more is revealed of their previous lives and of show more their different families. Both Kitty and Virgil have unusual fathers: Kitty's is a phenomenally accomplished philanderer, while Virgil's has changed his political allegiances from left to right and back again in order to ensure his survival. The book is rich in characters and despite its tragic theme - which is not revealed until late in the narrative - is often fiendishly funny. For all its concern with public issues of morality, it is very much about family life - or rather, that of two distinct families with interesting histories and secrets, not all of them unhappy. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Recommendations
Member Reviews
Members
- Recently Added By
Published Reviews
Kitty is an indexer by profession, and explains to her lover, Virgil, one of the results of her work.
added by KayCliff
Author Information
24+ Works 829 Members
Paul Bailey has been the recipient of the Somerset Maugham Award, the E. M. Forster Award, & the George Orwell Memorial Prize. He is the author of six novels, including "Old Soldiers" & "Gabriel's Lament", both short-listed for the Booker Prize. He lives in England. (Bowker Author Biography)
Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1998
- People/Characters
- Virgil Florescu; Kitty Crozier
- Important places
- London, England, UK; Romania
- Dedication
- For the Bartolozzi Family
- First words
- When she learned that Virgil Florescu was gone from her life, Kitty Crozier remembered their first, silent encounter.
- Quotations
- ‘Tonight I am an expert on the life and mysterious ways of Teresa of Avila. At least I think I am, now that I’ve supplied the index to a book about her. That’s the beauty of my little job, Virgil - the copious knowledge... (show all) I acquire.’
‘A very difficult manuscript. It has masses of cross-references. The author keeps jumping from one subject to another. I am finding it very hard to keep pace with him. He’s provided me with quite a challenge.’ - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)And as she stood there, she saw Virgil coming across the lawn, his Communist tooth gleaming in the dimness.
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 47
- Popularity
- 614,155
- Rating
- (3.30)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 5
- ASINs
- 2
