{"product_id":"barbara-comyns-a-savage-innocence-paperback","title":"Barbara Comyns: A Savage Innocence - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eAvril Horner\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA ground-breaking biography of a cult British novelist.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe extraordinary twentieth-century writer Barbara Comyns led a life as captivating as the narratives she spun. This pioneering biography reveals the journey of a woman who experienced hardship and single-motherhood before the age of thirty but went on to publish a sequence of novels unique in the English language. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Comyns turned her hand to many jobs in order to survive, from artist's model to piano restorer. Unpublished letters reveal an occasionally desperate but resourceful and witty woman whose life ranged from enduring poverty when young to mixing with spivs, spies and high society. While working as a housekeeper in her mid-thirties, Comyns began transforming the bleak episodes of her life into compelling fictions streaked with surrealism and deadpan humour. \u003ci\u003eThe Vet's Daughter\u003c\/i\u003e (1959), championed by Graham Greene, brought her fame, although her use of the gothic and macabre divided readers and reviewers. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e This biography excavates Comyns's life and reclaims her fiction, providing a timely reassessment of her literary contribution. It sheds new light on a remarkable author who deftly captured the complexities of human life.\u003ch3\u003eBack Jacket\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe extraordinary twentieth-century writer Barbara Comyns led a life as captivating as the narratives she spun. This pioneering biography reveals the journey of a woman who experienced hardship and single-motherhood before the age of thirty but went on to publish a sequence of novels unique in the English language. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Comyns turned her hand to many jobs in order to survive, from artist's model to piano restorer. Unpublished letters reveal an occasionally desperate but resourceful and witty woman whose life ranged from enduring poverty when young to mixing with spivs, spies and high society. While working as a housekeeper in her mid-thirties, Comyns began transforming the bleak episodes of her life into compelling fictions streaked with surrealism and deadpan humour. \u003ci\u003eThe Vet's Daughter\u003c\/i\u003e (1959), championed by Graham Greene, brought her fame, although her use of the gothic and macabre divided readers and reviewers. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e This biography excavates Comyns's life and reclaims her fiction, providing a timely reassessment of her literary contribution. It sheds new light on a remarkable author who deftly captured the complexities of human life.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eAvril Horner is an Emeritus Professor of English at Kingston University. She is the author or editor of numerous books, most recently \u003ci\u003eWomen and the Gothic \u003c\/i\u003ewith Sue Zlosnik (2016) and \u003ci\u003eLiving on Paper: Letters from Iris Murdoch 1934-95 \u003c\/i\u003ewith Anne Rowe (2015).\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 372\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.77 x 7.81 x 5.06 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIllustrated:\u003c\/strong\u003e Yes\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e April 15, 2025\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53575108559155,"sku":"9781526184931","price":21.55,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/s3xxpj-vy.myshopify.com\/products\/barbara-comyns-a-savage-innocence-paperback","provider":"The Celestial Starlit Phoenix ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}