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The Line of Beauty

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( 30,972 ratings, 2,239 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst follows Nick Guest, a young gay man navigating the elite world of 1980s London during the Thatcher era. Through his relationship with an affluent family, Nick explores themes of beauty, power, and privilege as he grapples with complex social and personal challenges. The novel beautifully intertwines a nuanced portrayal of class and identity with the backdrop of a transformative period in British history.
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this novel if you appreciate intricately crafted prose that explores themes of love, beauty, and power set against the backdrop of 1980s London. This book may appeal to you if you are drawn to stories that delve into the complexities of identity, desire, and the social dynamics of a changing British society.

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Winner of the Man Booker Prize, The Line of Beauty is exquisitely written, wryly funny and powerfully moving - a perfectly realized tale of our times.

Winner of the Man Booker Prize 2004, The Line of Beauty is a perfectly realized tale of our times.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

CELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF PICADOR BOOKS

Winner of the Man Booker Prize, The Line of Beauty is a classic novel about class, politics, and sexuality in Margaret Thatcher's 1980s Britain.

There was the soft glare of the flash—twice—three times—a gleaming sense of occasion, the gleam floating in the eye as a blot of shadow, his heart running fast with no particular need of courage as he grinned and said, 'Prime Minister, would you like to dance?'

In the summer of 1983, twenty-year-old Nick Guest moves into an attic room in the Notting Hill home of the wealthy Feddens: Gerald, an ambitious Tory MP, his wife Rachel and their children Toby and Catherine. Innocent of politics and money, Nick is swept up into the Feddens' world and an era of endless possibility, all the while pursuing his own private obsession with beauty.

The Line of Beauty is Alan Hollinghurst's Man Booker Prize-winning masterpiece. It is a novel that defines a decade, exploring with peerless style a young man's collision with his own desires, and with a world he can never truly belong to.

Part of the Picador Collection, a new series showcasing the best of modern literature.

Series: Picador Collection

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Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Widely regarded as a modern classic, The Line of Beauty is praised for its exquisite prose and stylistic elegance. Reviewers highlight it as a masterful work, rich with memorable moments and infused with humour and satire. It is celebrated for its incisive critique of Thatcher-era England, with Hollinghurst's command of language drawing high acclaim for its artistry and depth.

Book Hero reading reviews

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781529077209

Publisher: Pan Macmillan

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 17 February 2022

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Picador

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 32.0mm

Width: 131.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 362g

Pages: 528

About the Author

Alan Hollinghurst is the author of several novels including The Swimming-Pool Library, The Folding Star, The Spell, The Line of Beauty and The Stranger's Child. He has received the Somerset Maugham Award, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction and the 2004 Man Booker Prize. He lives in London.

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