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The clothes on their backs

£9.99

Vivien spends a quiet childhood encapsulated in the present, sealed off from the past by her timid refugee parents. To the horror of her father, her glamorous, dangerous uncle appears at their door, dressed in a purple mohair suit with his leopard-print clad mistress. Why is he so violently unwelcome in her parents’ home?

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Description

SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE

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. Then one morning a glamorous uncle appears, dressed in a mohair suit, with a diamond watch on his wrist and a girl in a leopard-skin hat on his arm. Why is Uncle Sándor so violently unwelcome in her parents’ home?

This is a novel about survival – both banal and heroic – and a young woman who discovers the complications, even betrayals, that inevitably accompany the fierce desire to live.

Set against the backdrop of a London from the 1950s to the present day, The Clothes on Their Backs is a wise and tender novel about the clothes we choose to wear, the personalities we dress ourselves in, and about how they define us all.

Additional information

Weight 0.212 kg
Dimensions 19.6 × 12.8 × 2.1 cm
Author

Publisher

Imprint

Cover

Paperback

Pages

293

Language

English

Edition

1st paperback ed

Dewey

823.92 (edition:22)

Readership

General – Trade / Code: K