Dr. Johnson in Loveread it now! On this day in 1934, British novelist Beryl Bainbridge was born. Her latest novel -- of some two-dozen, with about half that many major prizes and nominations -- is According to Queeney, a look at Samuel Johnson's last years and deeper, sometimes darker feelings. Bainbridge's Johnson is not comfortable with love, nor was Boswell's....
BBC Interviews An interview in which the author discusses her process of writing a book, the theme of human mortality, and the scale and "Englishness" of her works.
Guardian Unlimited Books Features reviews of Master Georgie and According to Queeney, selected quotes (on money, fashion, the sixties, her mother, death, and relationships), and a profile of the writer and her eccentricities:
"Bainbridge is gregarious, a chain-smoker, a keen drinker, but also reclusive and most completely so when writing. Writer's block has sometimes been overthrown with a swig of whisky taken on an empty stomach. When writing a book, she does nothing else, scarcely stopping to eat. It is total immersion, a marathon."
