My darling villain [Hardcover]

Lynne Reid Banks (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1977

Fifteen-year-old Kate becomes aware of the class consciousness of her middle class family and friends when she falls in love with a boy from a working class family.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 237 pages
• Publisher: Harper & Row; First Edition ~1st Printing edition (1977)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060203927
• ISBN-13: 978-0060203924
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,889,297 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lynne Reid Banks is a best-selling author for children and adults. Her classic children's novel 'The Indian in the Cupboard' has sold nearly six million copies worldwide. She was born in London in 1929 and worked as an actress, writer and TV news reporter. Lynne has written thirty books: her first, 'The L-Shaped Room', was published in 1960. She now lives in Dorset, where she continues to write. Lynne says that writing for children comes much more easily than writing for adults. Tony Ross was born in London in 1938. He has worked as an art director at an advertising agency, a graphic designer, a cartoonist, a teacher, a film maker and as a Senior Lecturer in Art at Manchester Polytechnic.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very good book., August 29, 1997

By 

[e-mail] (Nicollet, Minnesota, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Darling Villain (Paperback)

My Darling Villian is about Kate, a middle class girl and her boyfriend Mark. It shows how class difference really does effect every day lives and their are class differeces everywhere. It's very well written and easy to read. It's my favorite book

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a review guranteed to persuade you in reading this boook, March 8, 2004

By 

frod (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My darling villain (Hardcover)

well, recently i have been reading lots of books and annalysing them, the most appreciating of the books was a book by Lynne Reid Banks called my Darling Villain. its about the class differentiations between the english society (ies) during the early 20th century and how the author portrayed each class was just astonishing. the contrast can make one move and feel all emotional. it is really touching and one could say its " book to its perfectionate". i can almost certainly gurantee that this book would let one feel emotionally touched and would certainly reccommend it to anyone who is interested in such variation in class society in Britain during the war.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Teenage life in 1970's , written with warmth and insight., April 18, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: My Darling Villain (Paperback)

My Darling Villain is narrated by 16-year old Kate Dunhill, who lives with her middle-class parents in London. It is sensitive and detailed in its description of the highs and lows of growing up. The underlying theme of this book ( and many others by Lynne Reid Banks ) is that of conflict and reconciliation. In Kate's life these are between parents and children, brothers and sisters, the upper, middle and lower classes, Jews and Non-Jews, Kate and her friends, teachers and relations, and the strong conflict between men and women.
For me a defining moment in the book takes place on a family outing to the British Museum where Mr Dunhill finds Kate and her mother discussing Kate's new boyfriend. He rolls his eyes dramatically (well, he is an actor ) and calls upon Heaven to witness that women have no earthly right to claim equality with men when they cannot keep their minds off sex even when surrounded by the greatest works of civilisation.
( And you'll have to read the book to find out Mrs Dunhill's clever retort ! )
As we experience the full richness of emotion with Kate, the reader sees that this is an accurate and lovely portrait of teenage life, especially for anyone nostalgic for the 1970's.
I strongly recommend this book and any other by Lynne Reid Banks , particularly The L-Shaped Room