John Brown's Body

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'An extraordinary achievement.' A. S. Byatt John Brown's Body , first published in 1969, was A.L. Barker's fourth novel and was shortlisted for the second annual Booker Prize in 1970. Marise Tomelty is the young wife of a travelling salesman, who dislikes sex and is terrified of open spaces. Ralph Shilling, a dealer in pesticides, lives in the flat above the Tomeltys'. One day Marise's husband casually mentions that he recognises Ralph as John Brown: a man acquitted, for lack of evidence, of the gruesome double murder of two sisters. Nevertheless, Marise encourages Ralph's attentions, intoxicated by a heady mix of passion and fear. 'She is formidable, and from a bare corner of human relations gathers a rich harvest.' Adam Mars-Jones 'It would be hard to find anyone who chooses words more exactly or constructs with more precision.' Penelope Fitzgerald

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