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Dead Letters
Steve has embarked on his journey of a lifetime. Having left the Sydney slum in which he grew up, he's backpacking around Europe. But his meeting with the ageing writer Prince Stefano Torre della Aquila will change him forever.
- GenresFiction
190 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 2000
10 people want to read
About the author
Francis King
78 books25 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 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 4, 2024
4.5, rounded up.
King's 27th novel from 1998, the 19th of his books for me to read.
Written at the full height of his powers as a writer, this short, quick novel details the story of a good-natured, but none too bright, Australian car mechanic, Steve, who while on a year-long journey to places unknown, is taken in on a rainy night in Palermo, Sicily, by Stefano, an aging, dying Prince. What he thought would be only overnight accommodations turns into a month-long sojourn of discovery and heart-breaking anguish.
As with many of King's books, this centers around an unrequited love, which the married prince inexplicably develops for the handsome stranger - one which makes Steve uneasy, in a way for which he cannot quite fathom the reason. Filled as usual with King's deft characterizations, keen insight and subtlety, and gorgeous prose, I devoured it in less than a day.
King's 27th novel from 1998, the 19th of his books for me to read.
Written at the full height of his powers as a writer, this short, quick novel details the story of a good-natured, but none too bright, Australian car mechanic, Steve, who while on a year-long journey to places unknown, is taken in on a rainy night in Palermo, Sicily, by Stefano, an aging, dying Prince. What he thought would be only overnight accommodations turns into a month-long sojourn of discovery and heart-breaking anguish.
As with many of King's books, this centers around an unrequited love, which the married prince inexplicably develops for the handsome stranger - one which makes Steve uneasy, in a way for which he cannot quite fathom the reason. Filled as usual with King's deft characterizations, keen insight and subtlety, and gorgeous prose, I devoured it in less than a day.
October 21, 2025
Francis King is a wonderful writer and I am really pleased to have bought this book - in fact I am buying many of his books - they are ridiculously cheap, at least in the UK, even in near perfect, hardback, editions (despite what goodreads says this is a paperback - or at least my edition is).
I have this novel at the top of my TBR list.
I have this novel at the top of my TBR list.
November 6, 2012
Now one of my favourite authors after stumbling upon by chance. Very much enjoyed and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys simple reads
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June 26, 2016About Australian traveller in Sicilly, sad
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews