Writers We Take for Granted

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From The Times of London:

Literary life isn’t fair. Some authors relax in beautiful Hampstead townhouses, listening to the sound of their specially reinforced mantelpieces groaning under the weight of literary prizes. Other equally good writers shiver in shabby bedsits, without so much as a positive Amazon review to console them.

We’ve been thinking about underappreciated writers after positive reviews of Andrew Miller’s new novel, Now We Shall Be Entirely Free appeared in The Sunday Times and The Times. We loved his book. But why isn’t he better known? Poor old Miller hasn’t won an important prize since he bagged the Costa in 2011. For some reason, that never won him the public recognition he deserved.

That got us thinking — who are our most underrated living novelists? Perhaps if we buy enough of their books we could rescue them from their garrets and send the poor souls to Hampstead.

. . . .

Andrew Miller
Miller wowed our critics with Now We Shall Be Entirely Free, a tale of a veteran of the Napoleonic wars on the run from the army. His novel Pure, which won the Costa in 2011, is set in pre-revolutionary France. His first two novels, Ingenious Pain and Casanovawere also set in the 18th century. His previous novel but one, however, was a bit of a departure. The Crossing is a mysterious nontraditional tale whose main character is deliberately left almost blank.

Tessa Hadley 
Hadley . . . published her first novel, Accidents in the Home, in 2000. It follows the romantic and sexual misadventures of middle-class Londoners. But with its fractured narrative and mysterious symbolism, it’s much more interesting than your typical middle-class divorce novel. If you haven’t read Hadley before, her novel The Master Bedroom is another good place to start. This book follows Kate Flynn who, dissatisfied with her life as a lecturer in London, moves to the countryside to care for her ageing mother. Hadley’s a good thing. So why has she never so much as made it on to a Booker longlist?

Link to the rest at The Times of London  (the link may expire)

1 thought on “Writers We Take for Granted”

  1. Right off the top of my head I can name two fine writers who are under-appreciated: Mark SaFranko, author of Lounge Lizard, and mystery writer Jack Clark, author of Nobody’s Angel.

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