The Brickfield

Description

A lonely boy living on his uncle's farm in the Lincolnshire Fens, Richard Mardick's solitary existence is interrupted by a chance meeting, and idyllic love affair, with Lucy. A disused brickfield is the scene of their clandestine meetings, and it is there that Richard finds her drowned in a muddy pool. Forced by circumstances to look back on these days, Richard finds himself recounting this episode to his secretary. Its shattering significance throughout the rest of his life is put into remarkable perspective by the unusual framework with which Hartley has enclosed his story. Weaving skilfully through past events while staying awake to the present, The Brickfield is a masterly evocation of childhood and its influences on the adult mind.

L. P. Hartley (1895-1972) was a British writer, described by Lord David Cecil as 'One of the most distinguished of modern novelists; and one of the most original'. His best-known work is The Go-Between, which was made into a 1970 film. Other written works include: The Betrayal, The Boat, My Fellow Devils, A Perfect Woman and Eustace and Hilda, for which he was awarded the 1947 James Tait Black Memorial Prize. He was awarded the CBE in 1956.

A masterpiece is a work that has an overtone of permanence. Mr. Hartley's The Go-Between had it, and now it appears again in The Brickfield - Richard Church, Bookman This fine novelist still has the courage as well as the skill to excavate in those layers of consciousness from which many newer writers turn hopelessly away - Norman Shrapnel, Guardian The quality of this excellent novel consists partly in the skilful evocation of bygone sights, sounds, smells and attitudes of mind, partly in the brilliant characterization, but above all in the delicate, tender treatment of this youthful love-story - Robert Baldick, Daily Telegraph The economy of the book is a wonder, and the power to conjure past time while staying awake to the present as remarkable as one would expect - Anthony Burgess, Spectator A masterpiece is a work that has an overtone of permanence. Mr. Hartley's The Go-Between had it, and now it appears again in The Brickfield - Richard Church, Bookman This fine novelist still has the courage as well as the skill to excavate in those layers of consciousness from which many newer writers turn hopelessly away - Norman Shrapnel, Guardian The quality of this excellent novel consists partly in the skilful evocation of bygone sights, sounds, smells and attitudes of mind, partly in the brilliant characterization, but above all in the delicate, tender treatment of this youthful love-story - Robert Baldick, Daily Telegraph The economy of the book is a wonder, and the power to conjure past time while staying awake to the present as remarkable as one would expect - Anthony Burgess, Spectator