Skip to Main Content

About The Book

WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE 1996

Four men once close to Jack Dodds, a London butcher, meet to carry out his peculiar last wish: to have his ashes scattered into the sea at Margate. For reasons best known to herself, Jack’s widow, Amy, declines to join them . . . On the surface a simple tale of an increasingly bizarre day’s outing, this Booker-prize winning, internationally acclaimed novel is a resonant and classic exploration of the complexity and courage of ordinary lives. Intensely local but overwhelmingly universal, faithful to the fleeting rhythms and accidental eloquence of everyday speech but also to the timeless truths of life and death, it succeeds in being comic and heartstopping, affectionate and wise, and in conferring on its stumbling, disappointed characters an enduring decency, dignity and depth.

‘A surpassing testament to Swift’s vibrant and powerful gifts’ The Times
‘A triumph . . . a story about the most fundamental things of all’ Evening Standard

About The Author

© Janus van den Eijnden

Graham Swift was born in 1949 and is the author of eleven novels,two collections of short stories, including the highly acclaimed England and Other Stories, and of Making an Elephant, a book of essays, portraits, poetry and reflections on his life in writing. His most recent novel, Mothering Sunday, became an international bestseller and won The Hawthornden Prize for best work of imaginative literature. With Waterland he won the Guardian Fiction Prize, and with Last Orders the Booker Prize. Both novels were made into films. His work has appeared in over thirty languages.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Scribner UK (July 11, 2019)
  • Length: 400 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781471187292

Browse Related Books

Resources and Downloads

High Resolution Images

More books from this author: Graham Swift