Customer Reviews

Four Stories

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I don't quite know how to describe this book in a way that will convey enough information to give you an inking if you would like it or not.

First some description perhaps:

This book is a collection of four of Alan Bennett's most famous, most admired short stories:

The Laying on of Hands
The Clothes They Stood up in
Father! Father! Burning Bright
and then there's 'The Lady in the Van.' You see, Mrs. Shepherd drove her van into his garden in 1974 and asked if she could park it there for a while.

'A while' turned out to be fifteen years. And she lived in the van. In 1999 he wrote a play about her that starred Maggie Smith. And the section describing the play is a cross between the story of Mrs. Shepherd (he finds a Mr. Shepherd very hard to imagine) and the writing of the play.

Some dialog from a draft version of the play:

'Mr. Bennett. Will you look under the van?'

'What for?'

One of these explosive devices. There was another bomb last night and I think I may be next on the list.'

'I can't see anything because of all your plastic bags.'

'Yes and the explosive's plastic so it wouldn't show, possibly. Are there any wires? The wireless tells you to look for wires. Nothing that looks like a timing device?'

'There's an old biscuit tin.'

Rolling on the floor laughing? No. A delight to read? Absolutely.