The Tap Dancer
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The Tap Dancer
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Narrated by:
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John Sackville
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By:
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Andrew Barrow
‘My favourite novel and one I wish I’d written.’ ALAN BENNETT
Winner of the McKitterick Prize for best first novel by an author aged over 40, and the Hawthornden Prize for imaginative literature.
Everyone craves retirement from the Civil Service, don’t they? That time for an ageing patriarch to enjoy the fruits of a well-earned pension and the respect of his family; maybe even to indulge in a love of music halls and metropolitan life. If only people would listen and do as they were told…
His fourth son William, the long-suffering narrator, is the constant butt of his father’s jokes and victim of his brothers’ indifference. But as death, divorce and other darker dramas follow, father and son slowly establish a strange harmony.
©2023 Andrew Barrow (P)2023 HarperCollins Publishers LimitedCritics' reviews
‘A comic masterpiece... Andrew Barrow’s insight into the minutiae of English family life is absolutely brilliant...his ear for dialogue is matchless...this is a great literary creation.’ Spectator
‘A magnificent creation... Could rank alongside Mr Pooter and Nancy Mitford’s Uncle Matthew.’ Independent
‘All the characters, even the minor ones, are perfectly realised, thanks largely to Barrow’s remarkable skill at pinpointing the social and psychological undercurrents of casual conversation.’ Times Literary Supplement