Dame Beryl Margaret Bainbridge DBE (21 November 1932 – 2 July 2010) was an English writer from Liverpool. She was primarily known for her works of psychological fiction, often macabre tales set among the English working class. Bainbridge won the Whitbread Awards prize for best novel in 1977 and 1996; she was nominated five times for the Booker Prize.
She was described in 2007 by Charlotte Higgins as “a national treasure”. In 2008, The Times named Bainbridge on their list of “The 10 greatest British writers since 1945”.
Books in order of publication by type:
Novels
A Weekend with Claude (1967)
Another Part of the Wood (1968)
Harriet Said… (1972)
The Dressmaker (US title The Secret Glass) (1973) – shortlisted for Booker Prize
The Bottle Factory Outing (1974) – shortlisted for Booker Prize, won the Guardian Fiction Prize
Sweet William (1975)
A Quiet Life (1976)
Injury Time (1977) – winner, Whitbread Prize
Young Adolf (1978)
Another Part of the Wood (revised edn) (1979)
Winter Garden (1980)
A Weekend with Claude (revised edn) (1981)
Watson’s Apology (1984)
Filthy Lucre (written as a teenager in 1946 but published 1986)
An Awfully Big Adventure (1989) – shortlisted for Booker Prize
The Birthday Boys (1991)
Every Man for Himself (1996) – shortlisted for Booker Prize, winner of the Whitbread Prize
Master Georgie (1998) – shortlisted for Booker Prize
According to Queeney (2001)
The Girl in the Polka-dot Dress (2011)
Short story collections
Mum and Mr Armitage (1985)
Collected Stories (1994)
Northern Stories Vol. 5 (co-editor with David Pownall) (1994)
Non-fiction
English Journey, or The Road to Milton Keynes (1984)
Forever England: North and South (1987)
Something Happened Yesterday (1993)
Front Row: Evenings at the Theatre (2005)
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