Издания и произведения

«Кенсингтон, как давно это было» — роман Мюриэл Спарк (1918—2006), признанного классика английской литературы XX века. Вполне счастливая, хотя уже не молодая женщина Агнес Хокинз, путешествуя с мужем по Италии, постоянно возвращается мыслями в далёкий 1954 год, к своей наполненной драматическими событиями жизни в Лондоне, в Южном Кенсингтоне: работе в издательстве, доведённом безумным владельцем до полного краха, упоённой борьбе с бездарными авторами и, конечно же, борьбе с собственной полнотой (рецепт прост — можно есть и пить всё как всегда, только половину каждого блюда оставлять на тарелке). Агнес, тогда молодая вдова погибшего…

Nancy Hawkins, the majestic narrator of A Far Cry From Kensington, takes us by the hand and leads us back to her threadbare years in postwar London, where she spent her days working for a mad, near-bankrupt publisher (“of very good books”) and her nights dispensing advice at her small South Kensington boarding house. She found evil everywhere: shady literary doings and a deadly enemy; anonymous letters; blackmail; and suicide. Looking back on those years from her new perch in Italy, Mrs. Hawkins recounts how that time changed her life forever, using the novel as a platform for advice. “It’s easy to get thin,” she says. “You eat and drink…

When Mrs Hawkins tells Hector Bartlett he is a 'pisseur de copie', that he 'urinates frightful prose', little does she realise the repercussions. Holding that 'no life can be carried on satisfactorily unless people are honest' Mrs Hawkins refuses to retract her judgement, and as a consequence, loses not one, but two much-sought-after jobs in publishing. Now, years older, successful, and happily a far cry from Kensington, she looks back over the dark days that followed, in which she was embroiled in a mystery involving anonymous letters, quack remedies, blackmail and suicide.

Mrs. Hawkins, the majestic narrator of A Far Cry from Kensington, takes us well in hand and leads us back to her threadbare years in postwar London. There, as a fat but much admired young war widow, she spent her days working for a mad, near-bankrupt publisher (“of very good books”) and her evenings dispensing advice at her small South Kensington rooming house. At work and at home, Mrs. Hawkins soon uncovered evil; shady literary doings and a deadly enemy; anonymous letters, blackmail, and suicide. With aplomb, however, Mrs. Hawkins confidently set about putting things to order, little imagining the mayhem which would ensue. Now decades…

Динамичная проза на детективной подкладке о 50-х годах прошлого века и о молодых лондонцах, соседях по дому. Много увлекательных страниц посвящено журналистике и издательскому делу.

Set on the crazier fringes of 1950s literary London, A Far Cry from Kensington is a delight, hilariously portraying love, fraud, death, evil, and transformation. Mrs. Hawkins, the majestic narrator of A Far Cry from Kensington, takes us well in hand and leads us back to her threadbare years in postwar London. There, as a fat and much admired young war widow, she spent her days working for a mad, near-bankrupt publisher (“of very good books”) and her nights dispensing advice at her small South Kensington rooming house. At work and at home Mrs. Hawkins soon uncovered evil: shady literary doings and a deadly enemy; anonymous letters,…