Three darkly comic novels from the two-time Whitbread Award winner whose “masterful restraint . . . reveals an author in complete control of her artistry” (The Guardian).
With taut prose and mordant wit, Dame Beryl Bainbridge established a unique position for herself as “one of the most distinctive and admired voices in postwar British fiction” (The New York Times). In the three novels collected here, she deploys her signature, unforgiving insight into human nature, drawing on her own life experience to produce tightly knit tales of innocence and mischief.
The Dressmaker: For seventeen-year-old Rita, romance with an American GI feels like a Hollywood-style escape from wartime England—and the two aunts who’ve raised her. But in this Man Booker Prize–shortlisted novel, Rita soon discovers that life is nothing like the movies.
“A little triumph of economy with pent thoughts and cramped emotions that whisper frantically on when the book is shut.” —The Guardian
The Bottle Factory Outing: Working at an Italian wine-bottling factory, London flatmates Brenda and Freda anticipate a rare day of pleasure on a company outing. Winner of the Guardian Fiction Prize and shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, this comic novel takes an unsettling turn only Bainbridge could deliver.
“An outrageously funny and horrifying story.” —Graham Greene
Injury Time: In this Whitbread Literary Award–winning novel, Edward and his mistress try to host a discreet dinner party, but it’s an awkward affair to say the least. With the addition of two uninvited, rather forceful guests, more than feelings will get hurt in this “comic and sinister” novel (The Sunday Times).
“A near-masterpiece . . . horribly true to life.” —London Evening Standard
