Two strangers, each burdened by the past, meet. Linda Grant asks whether these survivors of the battles of the 70s are meant for each other - or not
The Clothes on Their Backs
Written by Linda Grant
- Shortlisted
- The Man Booker Prize 2008
- Published by Virago
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There are concealed pasts to discover and stark choices to be made in Linda Grant’s tale of a young woman in search of her place in the world
In a red brick mansion block off the Marylebone Road, Vivien, a sensitive, bookish girl grows up sealed off from both past and present by her timid refugee parents. One morning, a glamorous older man appears, dressed in a mohair suit, with a diamond watch on his wrist and a girl in a leopard-skin hat on his arm. He is her Uncle Sándor - but why is he so violently unwelcome in her parents’ home?
Linda Grant
Linda Grant is the author of five non-fiction books and seven novels. She won the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2000
More about Linda Grant Features
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Eight Booker-nominated novels featuring characters with Hungarian heritage
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