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Prodigies
In this novel, Francis King deploys all his formidable skills as a storyteller in bringing to life both these three real-life characters and the extraordinary diversity of imagined people met on their odyssey.
460 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
9 people want to read
About the author
Francis King
78 books18 followersThere is more than one author with this name
Francis Henry King, CBE, was a British novelist, poet and short story writer.
He was born in Adelboden, Switzerland, brought up in India and educated at Shrewsbury School and Balliol College, Oxford. During World War II he was a conscientious objector, and left Oxford to work on the land. After completing his degree in 1949 he worked for the British Council; he was posted around Europe, and then in Kyoto. He resigned to write full time in 1964.
He was a past winner of the W. Somerset Maugham Prize for his novel The Dividing Stream (1951) and also won the Katherine Mansfield Short Story Prize. A President Emeritus of International PEN and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, he was appointed an Officer (OBE) of the Order of the British Empire in 1979 and a Commander of the Order (CBE) in 1985.
Francis Henry King, CBE, was a British novelist, poet and short story writer.
He was born in Adelboden, Switzerland, brought up in India and educated at Shrewsbury School and Balliol College, Oxford. During World War II he was a conscientious objector, and left Oxford to work on the land. After completing his degree in 1949 he worked for the British Council; he was posted around Europe, and then in Kyoto. He resigned to write full time in 1964.
He was a past winner of the W. Somerset Maugham Prize for his novel The Dividing Stream (1951) and also won the Katherine Mansfield Short Story Prize. A President Emeritus of International PEN and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, he was appointed an Officer (OBE) of the Order of the British Empire in 1979 and a Commander of the Order (CBE) in 1985.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 1, 2024
The last of King's 32 novels for me to read; his 29th from 2001.
This is unique amongst King's works in that it is a historical fiction, based on the real life of one Alexine Tinne, who was once the richest woman in The Netherlands in the mid 1800s. As such, he is somewhat constrained by the facts of her story, although they are so fantastical that he is able to bring his usual astute flair to the proceedings - and his version of her death is at odds with the facts.
It's also his longest book, and took me the longest to read, both because of such and because of some longueurs in the middle sections.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexine...
This is unique amongst King's works in that it is a historical fiction, based on the real life of one Alexine Tinne, who was once the richest woman in The Netherlands in the mid 1800s. As such, he is somewhat constrained by the facts of her story, although they are so fantastical that he is able to bring his usual astute flair to the proceedings - and his version of her death is at odds with the facts.
It's also his longest book, and took me the longest to read, both because of such and because of some longueurs in the middle sections.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexine...
January 26, 2011
Nederlandse titel: Wonderen
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews