Home Truths

Home Truths

From the author of the Booker Prize finalist Small World .   Adrian Ludlow, a novelist with a distinguished reputation and a book on the “A” level syllabus, is now seeking obscurity in a cottage beneath the Gatwick flight path. His university friend Sam Sharp, who has become a successful screenwriter, drops in on the way to Los Angeles, fuming over a vicious profile of himself by Fanny Tarrant, one of the new breed of Rottweiler interviews, in a Sunday newspaper. Together they decide to take revenge on the interviewer, though Adrian is risking what he values most: his privacy.   David Lodge's dazzling novella examines with wit and insight the contemporary culture of celebrity and the conflict between the solitary activity of writing and the demands of the media circus.   “Sharp, intelligent, surprising and fun.”— The Times   “Lodge is pure dazzling style, book after book, in his fusion of form and content.”— The New Republic "Lodge is pure dazzling style, book after book, in his fusion of form and content". -- The New Republic What happens when the solitary world of writing collides with the intrusive demands of the media circus? Adrian Ludlow, a novelist with a distinguished but slightly faded reputation, is living in semiretirement with his wife, Eleanor, in an isolated cottage beneath the flight path of London's Gatwick Airport. Their old friend from college days, Sam Sharp, who has since become a successful screenplay writer, drops by unexpectedly on the way to Los Angeles. Sam is fuming over a scathing profile of himself by Fanny Tarrant, one of the new breed of pugnacious interviewers, in that day's newspaper. Together, the two men plan to take revenge on the journalist, though Adrian is risking what he values most: his privacy. What follows is unexpected and upsetting for all of them, including Fanny. David Lodge's delicious novella examines with characteristic wit and insight the tensions between private life and public interest in contemporary society. David Lodge is the author of twelve novels and a novella, including the Booker Prize finalists Small World and Nice Work . He is also the author of many works of literary criticism, including The Art of Fiction and Consciousness and the Novel .