Description

Book Synopsis

Michaelmas term, 1940. 18-year-old John Kemp has come down from Lancashire to Oxford University to begin his scholarship studying English. But when he invents an imaginary sister to win the attention of a rich but unreliable ''friend'', and then falls in love for real, undergraduate life becomes its own strange world

Absolutely contemporary - perhaps even prophetic.'' Joyce Carol Oates
Remarkable A book about innocence.' Simon Garfield
''A cryptic literary manifesto [about] discovering a literary personality, and the consolation art can provide.'' Andrew Motion



Trade Review
"'The qualities one has learned to value in his poetry are there: control of emotion and language, keen observation, and in particular the very precise expression of half-success, anticipated failure or sadness.' New Statesman; 'Jill is, in a sense, a kind of cryptic literary manifesto. It is a novel about writing, about discovering a literary personality, and about the sorts of consolation that art can provide.' Andrew Motion"

Jill

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    A Paperback / softback by Philip Larkin

    £9.49

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    RRP £9.99 – you save £0.50 (5%)

    Order before 4pm today for delivery by Tue 29 Sep 2026.

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      Book details

      Publisher Faber & Faber
      Published 3 March 2005
      ISBN-13 9780571225828
      978-0571225828
      ISBN-10 0571225829
      Also in:
      Fiction Contemporary Fiction Crime & Thrillers

      Description

      Book Synopsis

      Michaelmas term, 1940. 18-year-old John Kemp has come down from Lancashire to Oxford University to begin his scholarship studying English. But when he invents an imaginary sister to win the attention of a rich but unreliable ''friend'', and then falls in love for real, undergraduate life becomes its own strange world

      Absolutely contemporary - perhaps even prophetic.'' Joyce Carol Oates
      Remarkable A book about innocence.' Simon Garfield
      ''A cryptic literary manifesto [about] discovering a literary personality, and the consolation art can provide.'' Andrew Motion



      Trade Review
      "'The qualities one has learned to value in his poetry are there: control of emotion and language, keen observation, and in particular the very precise expression of half-success, anticipated failure or sadness.' New Statesman; 'Jill is, in a sense, a kind of cryptic literary manifesto. It is a novel about writing, about discovering a literary personality, and about the sorts of consolation that art can provide.' Andrew Motion"

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