As Julian Barnes’ enigmatic narrator investigates the life and art of Flaubert, so he reveals his own secrets in this witty weave of fact and fiction.

Geoffrey Braithwaite is the learned and querulous narrator of this inquiry into the mysteries of Gustave Flaubert and his art, and into the facts of his own marriage to the adulteress he adored. As part of his mission to unravel the supposed secrets of the long-dead author, Braithwaite travels to France on an absurd quest to find the stuffed parrot Flaubert kept on his desk for inspiration.

Shortlisted
The Booker Prize 1984
Published by
Jonathan Cape
Publication date
Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes

About the Author

Julian Barnes is the author of 13 novels, including The Sense of an Ending, which won the 2011 Booker Prize.
More about Julian Barnes

Other nominated books by Julian Barnes

The Sense of an Ending
Prize winner
Arthur & George
England, England