The Spell Book + PRICE WATCH * Amazon pricing is not included in price watch

The Spell Book

The Spell has found Alan Hollinghurst on the Guardian's Fiction Prize shortlist, and with good reason. His first two novels were mischievous, escapist things, toying with the delights of colonial buggery (The Swimming Pool Library) and underage Belgian boys (The Folding Star). In The Spell he's come of age, finally engaging with the issues of relationships, monogamy and aging that preoccupy the work of his peers. Alex is an uptight 36-year-old Foreign Office man who suddenly falls for Danny, the 22- year-old son of his ex-lover's new lover (are you following this?) The infatuation with Danny is as much an infatuation with the ecstasy-fuelled nightlife to which Danny introduces him, and it's hardly a surprise when the relationship fizzles. But Alex is forced into confronting his desires and the novel ends leaving him unsure but at least taking stock and looking forward. The story veers wildly between an intoxicating London and a windswept, traditional Wessex, as if Hollinghurst can't yet reconcile true rural Englishness with the possibilities afforded by cosmopolitan queer London. But there's an honesty here that's welcome after the (admittedly arousing) archness of his earlier work, and a real sense of facing up to life's bigger questions. --Alan Stewart, AmazonRead More

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  • Amazon

    Comedy of sexual manners that follows the interlocking affairs of four men: Robin Woodfield, Justin, Danny and Alex. As each falls under the spell of romance or drugs, country living or rough trade, a richly ironic picture emerges of the clashing imperatives of gay life, the hunger for contact, the fear of commitment, and the need for permanence.

  • Play

    Alan Hollinghurst's new novel is a comedy of sexual manners that follows the interlocking affairs of four men: Robin Woodfield an architect in his late forties who is trying to build an idyllic life in Dorset with his younger lover Justin a would-be actor increasingly disenchanted with the countryside; Robin's 22-year-old son Danny a volatile beauty who lives for clubbing and casual sex; and the shy Alex whose life is transformed by house music and a tab of ecstasy. As each in turn falls under the spell of romance or drugs country living or rough trade a richly ironic picture emerges of the clashing imperatives of modern gay life the hunger for contact and the fear of commitment the need for permanence and the continual disruptions of sex. At once lyrical and farcical sceptical and romantic "The Spell" confirms Alan Hollinghurst as one of Britain's most important novelists.

  • Foyles

    Discover this ‘sparkling celebration of sexual intrigue’ (Telegraph) from the Booker Prize-winning author of The Line of Beauty.The Spell is a comedy of sexual manners that follows the interlocking affairs of four men: Robin, an architect in his late forties, who is trying to build an idyllic life in Dorset with his younger lover, Justin; Robin's 22 year old son Danny, a volatile beauty who lives for clubbing and casual sex; and the shy Alex, who is Justin's ex-boyfriend. As each in turn falls under the spell of romance or drugs, country living or rough trade, a richly ironic picture emerges of the clashing imperatives of modern gay life. At once lyrical, sceptical and romantic, The Spell confirms Alan Hollinghurst as one of Britain's most important novelists.

  • BookDepository

    The Spell : Paperback : Vintage Publishing : 9780099276944 : : 03 Aug 1999 : Comedy of sexual manners that follows the interlocking affairs of four men: Robin Woodfield, Justin, Danny and Alex. As each falls under the spell of romance or drugs, country living or rough trade, a richly ironic picture emerges of the clashing imperatives of gay life, the hunger for contact, the fear of commitment, and the need for permanence.

  • 0099276941
  • 9780099276944
  • Alan Hollinghurst
  • 3 June 1999
  • Vintage
  • Paperback (Book)
  • 272
  • New edition
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