Uncle Rudolf

Description

The haunting new novel from Paul Bailey, whose work has been short-listed twice for the Booker prize. At the age of 70, Andrew Peters suddenly finds himself speaking in the language he has not used since childhood, when he came to live with his doting Uncle Rudolf . Rudolf transformed Andrew's world. Looking back across the years, Andrew remembers the captivating man who rescued him in 1937 from a likely death in fascist Romania. A sublimely gifted lyric tenor, Rudolf's talent had exiled him from his native land, leading him to Paris, Vienna and London, where he became a much-loved star in operetta. He turns all his hopes and sardonic humour upon Andrew, and the gauche child from a remote country town becomes what Rudolf wants him to be -- an English gentleman. Vivid, often hilarious stories of Rudolf's brilliant but blighted career and of his eccentric household are intertwined with the slow unfolding of the secrets that have shadowed Andrew's otherwise happy life. Told in matchless prose, this deeply moving novel captures a vanished epoch and a way of life with exquisite tact and restraint.

Paul Bailey is the author of At the Jerusalem (1967) which won the Somerset Maugham Award,Trespasses (1970),A Distant Likeness (1973), Peter Smart's Confessions (1977), shortlisted for the Booker Prize, Old Soldiers (1980), and Sugar Cane (1993). He was the first recipient of the E.M. Forster Award and won a George Orwell Prize for his essay 'The Limitations of Despair'.

'An exquisitely composed novel of doubleness, dubeity and prolonged protected silences.' The Guardian 'This fine and thoughtful tale is given a bittersweet seductiveness by the elegant sophistication of Bailey's writing and the splendid flamboyance of his central character.' Lucy Hughes-Hallet, Guardian 'The underlying story is sad - harrowing, indeed - but there is spicy humour here too. Andrew himself is an appealing narrator: honest, troubled, perceptive. It is the clarity of his vision that gives the novel its crisp and satisfying accuracy, and makes it one of Paul Bailey's best books.' Independent 'This is a beautifully worked cultural fable, elliptically presented after the manner Bailey has made uniquely his own. But it's more than this; the teller of the tale and his subject love one another deeply, and their love transfigures the world they find themselves in.' Spectator 'The subtlety and simplicity of Paul Bailey's prose are remarkable... With its striking yet undemonstrative contrast between the sublimity of music and the more familiar humanity of writing, Uncle Rudolf is a real essay in aesthetics.' TLS 'Whether describing the boy Andrew's heart-rending final parting from his father in Paris, the comic antics of Rudolf's adoring entourage, or the final denouement of an open-air political meeting in a newly liberated Romania, each scene is boldly and comprehensively realised. Bailey's authorial voice possesses a silky, seductive, wholly individual timbre, and is deployed with all the skill of the highly professional writer that he is.' Literary Review 'Uncle Rudolf is a tale of Bach, burnt toast and betrayal. The simple story carries a heavy burden of hidden pain. The period detail, sketched in lightly, is frequently amusing - what man today would wear a cologne called Jicky? - yet this masterly study of exile is more likely to leave the reader in tears.' Time Out 'An exceptionally tender and vivid account of a little boy's expulsion from his own country and language. Tremendous.' Beryl Bainbridge 'I read it in one sitting and think it echoing and beautiful; so graciously pitched, perfectly poised, balanced on its hair-breadth between grief and delight. It moved me terribly. I loved it.' Ali Smith 'Beautifully written, strange, moving and wryly funny. Haunting.' Shena Mackay 'The wars of twentieth century Europe produced countless individual family tragedies that could be as strange as they were harrowing. Bailey has woven the anguish and consolation experienced by his narrator into the fabric of history with humour as well as compassion.' Alan Brownjohn Praise for Paul Bailey 'He has a rare feeling for language and an understanding of character which few can rival.' Selina Hastings, Daily Telegraph On KITTY AND VIRGIL: 'A book the depth and beauty of which it is hard to do justice in the language of criticism and dissection.' Alex Clark, TLS On OLD SOLDIERS: 'Old Soldiers has taken root in my head. It's a spare, intense, elliptical novel, beautifully and cunningly set in a London which is at once drawn from Dickens and bang up-to-date.' Jonathan Raban, Sunday Times On GABRIEL'S LAMENT: Shortlisted for the Booker Prize 'A magnificent novel, moving, eccentric and unforgettable.' Daily Telegraph On PETER SMART'S CONFESSIONS: Shortlisted for the Booker Prize 'Rich in characters, situations, jokes and comic repartee. It's a fiendishly clever and funny book.' Anthony Thwaite, Observer