{"product_id":"dignity-9781474609456","title":"Dignity","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"+1\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eShortlisted for the Wales Book of the Year award\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e''I loved this... Magda is a real stand-out character for me in books I''ve read recently, I can''t quite stop thinking about her'' \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eJane Garvey, BBC Woman''s Hour\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e   \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cfont size=\"+1\"\u003e''Brilliant... A truly convincing state-of-the-nation novel'' \u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eDaily Mail\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cfont size=\"+1\"\u003e''Packs a powerful punch and makes you smile while breaking your heart''\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eWoman''s Weekly\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e    \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cfont size=\"+1\"\u003e''Fierce and compassionate''\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eMail on Sunday\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cfont size=\"+1\"\u003e''Conran''s work is subtle and complex: there is no one right story about the Empire. Instead we are offered multiple views, ironies and contradictions that only one of most talented, tender writers in Wales could portray''\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew Welsh Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cfont size=\"+1\"\u003e''Fierce, compassionate, angry, but above all, heart-breakingly real. I was d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eI loved this\u003c\/b\u003e... Magda is a real stand-out character for me in books I've read recently, \u003cb\u003eI can't quite stop thinking about her\u003c\/b\u003e... A really interesting book * Jane Garvey, BBC Woman's Hour *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWelsh author Alys Conran ought to turn heads\u003c\/b\u003e with this \u003cb\u003equietly brilliant\u003c\/b\u003e novel narrated by three women and set between present-day Britain and colonial India... When Magda, during one of her reveries, mutters a racist comment in Susheela's earshot, it \u003cb\u003elights a slow-burn narrative in which teasing omissions keep you rapt\u003c\/b\u003e. Bringing to life the nitty-gritty of her cast's diverse experiences, Conran manages that elusive feat - \u003cb\u003ea truly convincing state-of-the-nation novel\u003c\/b\u003e. -- Anthony Cummins * Daily Mail *\u003cbr\u003eAlys Conran's prose \u003cb\u003epacks a powerful punch\u003c\/b\u003e, and \u003cb\u003emakes you smile while breaking your heart\u003c\/b\u003e. -- Zoe West * WOMAN'S WEEKLY *\u003cbr\u003eOld age has scuppered clever Magda, who's frustrated at needing the care that's provided by sparky Susheela. In Susheela's own problems, which include an unplanned pregnancy and an ex-army boyfriend who's suffering from PTSD, Magda finds unexpected echoes of the dilemmas that awaited her mother when she left England for India, buoyed by love and hope. Conran's \u003cb\u003efierce, compassionate\u003c\/b\u003e second novel \u003cb\u003eexplores the complexities \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eof the Raj and contemporary Britain through the eyes of three brilliantly \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003erealised characters\u003c\/b\u003e, who are f\u003cb\u003einely \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003edrawn and entirely believable\u003c\/b\u003e. * Mail on Sunday *\u003cbr\u003eCleverly blends life in colonial India with life in a modern-day seaside town... \u003cb\u003ePowerful, funny and heartbreaking\u003c\/b\u003e. * Woman magazine *\u003cbr\u003eConran's \u003cb\u003efierce, compassionate\u003c\/b\u003e second novel explores the complexity of the Raj and contemporary Britain through the eyes of \u003cb\u003ethree brilliantly realised characters\u003c\/b\u003e, who are \u003cb\u003efinely drawn and entirely believable.\u003c\/b\u003e -- Eithne Farry * MAIL ON SUNDAY *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBeautiful\u003c\/b\u003e... It is not only the personal dimension that interests Conran, but the political, too... The whole work is centred on the politics of perspective: compassion for the three female protagonists shifts as the novel's emotional landscape becomes more difficult to navigate... \u003cb\u003eConran succeeds in allowing the reader to understand ways of thinking that are an anathema today, while simultaneously remaining deeply critical of some of her characters' colonialist mentality\u003c\/b\u003e... \u003ci\u003eDignity\u003c\/i\u003e is \u003cb\u003epoetically written\u003c\/b\u003e... In the second part of the novel, y\u003cb\u003eoung Magda's voice explodes on the page with vibrancy and delight, showing just how well Conran captures the language of children\u003c\/b\u003e. The work is \u003cb\u003erich in both language and storytelling\u003c\/b\u003e and so much is at play between the lines... Conran's work is \u003cb\u003esubtle and complex\u003c\/b\u003e: there is no one right story about the Empire. \u003cb\u003eInstead we are offered multiple views, ironies and contradictions that only one of most talented, tender writers in Wales could portray. \u003c\/b\u003e * New Welsh Review *\u003cbr\u003eAlys Conran's second novel, \u003ci\u003eDignity\u003c\/i\u003e, breathes with the same kind of life that her first - the much loved \u003ci\u003ePigeon \u003c\/i\u003e- did. It steps away from her familiar Wales and into the dual worlds of British Empire, but through characters as close to the ground as ever. \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eDignity \u003c\/i\u003econtinues Conran's preoccupation with lingering pasts, oppressive memory, and the ongoing impact of family history\u003c\/b\u003e. Here, it is given the backdrop of England's own familial ties - the dark marks within its recent past which continue to shape our culture... Each piece of experience, personality, and history, are fitted carefully together into \u003ci\u003eDignity \u003c\/i\u003elike pieces of a puzzle. Crucially however, and in true Conran style, \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eDignity \u003c\/i\u003eis a puzzle with no fixed border. It spills out with its questions and unlocked ideas\u003c\/b\u003e... Alys Conran also has a certain freedom with her style - again, it is \u003cb\u003enot contained by the margins of conventional storytelling\u003c\/b\u003e. She writes in an organic imitation of true experience, inhabiting each character fully with her words. Magda in particular has a distinct mind - one often teetering on the edge of breakdown... \u003cb\u003eConran spans the generations with great believability\u003c\/b\u003e. My favourite chapters for most of the first half were those set in a golden-tinted colonial India... Alys Conran has given a sort of gentleness to her second novel which is seldom found. As the story meanders between the lives these three women, its reader is carried - willingly - through their separate experiences. More than its offering of Evelyn, Susheela and Magda, \u003ci\u003eDignity \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eis a novel which calmly asks the daunting questions left by the Empire\u003c\/b\u003e. * Wales Arts Review *\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eDignity\u003c\/i\u003e is an \u003cb\u003eexquisite \u003c\/b\u003enovel: \u003cb\u003ecompassionate\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003cb\u003ebeautiful \u003c\/b\u003eand \u003cb\u003eunflinching\u003c\/b\u003e. I'm full of admiration for the skill with which it draws connections between the past and present, and manages to feel \u003cb\u003eboth timeless and achingly contemporary\u003c\/b\u003e. * Fiona McFarlane, award-winning author of THE NIGHT GUEST *\u003cbr\u003eThrough three women's distinct and \u003cb\u003ewonderful \u003c\/b\u003evoices Alys Conran explores the nature and meaning of home. The characters in this beautiful novel are \u003cb\u003efierce\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003cb\u003ecompassionate\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003cb\u003eangry\u003c\/b\u003e, but above all, heart-breakingly real. \u003cb\u003eI was drawn in from the very first page\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e.\u003c\/i\u003e * Claire Fuller, award-winning author of OUR ENDLESS NUMBERED DAYS and BITTER ORANGE *\u003cbr\u003eIn Alys Conran's second novel, she tells the story of Magda, an elderly woman beset with memories of her childhood in India and her growing concern for Susheela, the young woman who works as her carer. As Magda's health fails and Susheela reveals struggles of her own, the women - difficult, complicated, sometimes unlikeable - draw closer in this \u003cb\u003esurprising\u003c\/b\u003e tale of the British Empire's long reach. This is a \u003cb\u003ebeguiling \u003c\/b\u003ebook with a \u003cb\u003efierce\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003cb\u003euncompromising \u003c\/b\u003equality to it - \u003cb\u003ea novel that continues to unfold its meaning after the story has ended\u003c\/b\u003e. * Guinevere Glasfurd, author of THE WORDS IN MY HAND (shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award and the Authors' Club Best First Novel Award) *\u003cbr\u003eAn \u003cb\u003eexquisite \u003c\/b\u003enovel by \u003cb\u003ea great new talent\u003c\/b\u003e. * M.J. Hyland, Man Booker Prize shortlisted author of CARRY ME DOWN on Alys Conran'sPIGEON *\u003cbr\u003eMight have been authored by Faulkner . . . \u003cb\u003epitch-perfect\u003c\/b\u003e. * Omar Sabbagh, New Welsh Review on Alys Conran's PIGEON *\u003cbr\u003eDeceptively simple... \u003cb\u003ethroughly engaging\u003c\/b\u003e... a \u003cb\u003etimeless \u003c\/b\u003equality... \u003cb\u003eI should like to recommend that the unpretentious prose of \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003ePigeon\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e be read primarily for its humaneness and subtle poetical spirit\u003c\/b\u003e. * Wales Art Review on Alys Conran's PIGEON *\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Orion Publishing Co","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48739604889943,"sku":"9781474609456","price":8.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/dignity-9781474609456","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}