Little Bits of Baby - Patrick Gale

One christening and a funeral. (711 words)
by pje - written on 11/03/02, updated on 11/03/02 (Very useful, 113 readings)
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Patrick Gale sometimes describes himself as "England's westernmost writer" as he lives on his boyfriend's farm near Land's End in Cornwall. He was born [and I don't want to hear any tittering here] in Camp Hill Prison on the Isle of Wight, where his father was the governor. (Rather embarrassingly, his father was also in charge of Wandsworth jail when Ronnie Biggs escaped.) His first novel, written on the back of an order pad while he was working as a singing waiter, rejoiced in the title: "The Aerodynamics of Pork" and, bizarrely, was published simultaneously with his second novel ("Ease"). He had published seven books ...

Rough Music - Patrick Gale

Nothing rough about this book (356 words)
by IckleLaa - written on 23/05/02, updated on 23/05/02 (Very useful, 147 readings)
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To be perfectly honest I bought this book because I liked the cover, it looked relaxing and I personally wanted a break from books like Orwell's 1984 that I had been reading. When I started reading I wondered where exactly the story was heading but I was pleasantly suprised. The book is made up of the life of the central character of Will/Julian and his life as a small boy and when he's a 30 year old man. There is very little room for confusion even though his name does change, as the chapters are named either Blue House or Beachcomber, depending on what time the particular chapter is taking place. In both time scales our central character goes on holiday to ...