Bernard and Pat

Blair James

From Shelf: All Time Favourites.

This powerful UK debut from young writer Blair James is an intense reading experience: disturbing and caustic, BERNARD AND PAT is a novel about childhood, memory, sexual awakening and abuses of power

'Acutely observed, and psychologically on the button. Superb' Irish Times'A book with a persistent power and writing you won't be able to get out your head' Grazia-I suppose that these are the horses from which we are thrown. We see things as we are, not as they are. How do we best see? With eyes old or new? How well do we rise after falling?Catherine is small and everyone else is big. The world has lots of rules which she cannot keep up with, and lots of things happen that just don't feel right. With Dad gone and Mum at work, Catherine spends her days with Bernard and Pat. These are days that she will never forget but never quite remember, either.Bernard and Pat is a tour-de-force, a novel deeply aware of the peculiarities of memory and the vulnerability of childhood. Catherine's voice is unforgettable.