No boys play here : my family's missing men & Shakespeare's lost kings /
No Boys Play Here tells the story of Sally Bayley as a teenage girl in search of her father and uncle, and their broken and buried lives. Set against a backdrop of English political history, this book roams through Shakespeare's plays in search of answers to today's continuing social divid...
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
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London :
William Collins,
2021.
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| Summary: | No Boys Play Here tells the story of Sally Bayley as a teenage girl in search of her father and uncle, and their broken and buried lives. Set against a backdrop of English political history, this book roams through Shakespeare's plays in search of answers to today's continuing social divides, between the king in his castle and the man on the streets with only a bottle of beer for company. Adopting the guise of a boy, Sally falls in love with Shakespeare's characters as an escape from her oppressive home. Her closest companion is the dissolute John Falstaff. As he leads her through the backstreets and taverns of his London to the pubs and alleyways of her impoverished seaside town, Sally begins to understand her father and a family tragedy unfolds. In Bayley's critically acclaimed and inventive literary style, this is a searing account of a child looking for answers to the crises of male homelessness and mental illness she can't yet name. Through gloriously vibrant characters and original writing of great power, No Boys Play Here illustrates both the tumbledown trajectory of poverty and the vital need for imagination to restore spirit and character in the world. |
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| Physical Description: | xvi, 253 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm. |
| ISBN: | 9780008318888 0008318883 |