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An existential saga of working-class life in a British factory town and military service in the torrid jungles of the Far East from award-winning, bestselling author Alan Sillitoe Key to the Door turns away from the boisterous pursuits of Arthur Seaton made infamous in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, and focuses instead on the quieter rebellions of his older brother, Brian. Brian's childhood and adolescence in the grimy streets of Nottingham are shaped by the Depression-era struggles of show more his family, the life and culture of the factory town, and the love and bullying of his iron-willed grandfather and erratic father. When Brian reaches adulthood, he frequents the local pubs, works hard at a cardboard factory, and runs into a sticky situation with a woman named Pauline that obliges him to marry her. Soon though, he is conscripted for the postwar occupation of Malaya, and his true colors begin to show. Brian declares that he only wears his uniform to collect his paycheck; he shows contempt for the soldiers who obey the rules; he pursues a relationship with an exotic Chinese dancer; and he sends poetry into the jungle in Morse code. At once a vivid family portrait and a study of "the desolate, companionless void of protest" prevalent in postwar England, Key to the Door establishes the Seaton Novels as a broad and sweeping saga of twentieth-century British life, set against the backdrop of Nottingham. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Alan Sillitoe including rare images from the author's estate. show lessTags
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Alan Sillitoe is a good stylist, and I found this a good example of the coming of age novel, especially in the terms of British working Class fiction. It is a key to some of the odd habits of the British person in the global environment of the present.
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Author Information
87+ Works 4,347 Members
Alan Sillitoe was born on March 4, 1928 and grew up in the slums of the industrial city of Nottingham. He began to write while in the Royal Air Force, stationed in Malaya. He is best known for Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1958), which won the Author's Club Prize for the best British novel of 1958 and The Loneliness of the Long-Distance show more Runner (1959), which won Britain's Hawthornden Prize for 1960. Both books were adapted into films in 1960 and 1962 respectively. His other works include The Death of William Posters (1965), Tree on Fire (1967), Travels in Nihilon (1971), and Raw Material (1972). He died on April 25, 2010 at the age of 82. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title*
- Le chiavi di casa
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
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- Popularity
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- Reviews
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- Languages
- English, Estonian, Italian
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 7
- ASINs
- 3
