Rachel Billington
Auteur van Emma & Knightley: Perfect Happiness in Highbury: A Sequel to Jane Austen's Emma
Over de Auteur
Lady Rachel Billington is the daughter of the late Earl and Countess of Longford. She is the author of fifteen novels and eight children's books Gered Mankowitz is the son of the celebrated author and playwright Wolf Mankowitz, and is a world renowned photographer
Werken van Rachel Billington
Emma & Knightley: Perfect Happiness in Highbury: A Sequel to Jane Austen's Emma (1996) 94 exemplaren
lesioni volontarie 1 exemplaar
Gerelateerde werken
Tagged
Algemene kennis
- Officiële naam
- Billington, Lady Rachel
- Geboortedatum
- 1942-05-11
- Geslacht
- female
- Nationaliteit
- UK
- Geboorteplaats
- Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, UK
- Woonplaatsen
- London, England, UK
New York, New York, USA
Dorset, England, UK - Opleiding
- University of London (BA - English Literature)
- Beroepen
- novelist
journalist
screenwriter
children's book author - Relaties
- Fraser, Antonia (sister)
Pakenham, Thomas Francis Dermot, 8th Earl of Longford (brother)
Longford, Elizabeth (mother)
Kazantzis, Judith (sister)
Pakenham, Frank, 7th Earl of Longford (father)
Pinter, Harold (brother-in-law) (toon alle 11)
Pakenham, Valerie (sister-in-law)
Powell, Lady Violet (aunt)
Billington, Kevin (husband)
Clive, Mary (aunt)
Lamb, Lady Pansy (aunt) - Organisaties
- English PEN (former President)
- Prijzen en onderscheidingen
- Order of the British Empire (Officer, 2012)
- Korte biografie
- Rachel Billington was born Lady Rachel Pakenham into a well-known Anglo-Irish family. Her parents, both writers, were the the 7th Earl and Countess of Longford: Frank Pakenham, Labour minister and prisoner activist, and Elizabeth Longford, biographer and historian. Many other members of her family are also eminent writers, including her sisters Antonia Fraser and Judith Kazantzis, and her brother Thomas Pakenham, the present Earl. She married Kevin Billington, a film, theater and television director with whom she has four children. Rachel Billington's first novel was All Things Nice (1969). Since then, she has published 19 other novels for adults and 7 children's books. She has also worked as a journalist and written nonfiction, religious books, television plays and screenplays. She is a former president of English PEN, and contributes to Inside Time, the national newspaper for prisoners. She received the OBE in 2012 for her services to literature.
Leden
Besprekingen
A story of 2 people who fell in love and who were separated by 25years in age and after a mysterious tragedy which is revealed at the end 14 years in time.
The story criss crosses over the past and present and you spend a lot of the book wondering what the event was that wrecked both their lives.
By the time you do find out, you are caught up in their story and mainly interested in how it ends for them, to the point that it is almost just an add on piece of info.
Rachel keeps tight control of her story and I felt that the ending was expertly handled, whereas in some books you can feel the author galloping towards the end.
I hit a wall about halfway and debated whether to continue, but am glad I did.… (meer)
The story criss crosses over the past and present and you spend a lot of the book wondering what the event was that wrecked both their lives.
By the time you do find out, you are caught up in their story and mainly interested in how it ends for them, to the point that it is almost just an add on piece of info.
Rachel keeps tight control of her story and I felt that the ending was expertly handled, whereas in some books you can feel the author galloping towards the end.
I hit a wall about halfway and debated whether to continue, but am glad I did.… (meer)
Deze bespreking is geschreven voor LibraryThing Vroege Recensenten.The story of a feisty girl, and how she deals with the pain of her dad's downfall, has much to say about the harsh realities faced by the unlucky children of prisoners. I think we forget about the children and how they deal with one of the parents in jail. A must read! I was given this book thru LibraryThing.com
Deze bespreking is geschreven voor LibraryThing Vroege Recensenten.I have to say I didn't finish this book. I found it very hard to get into. I'm going to pass it on and see if it was just me.
Lijsten
Austenland (1)
Misschien vindt je deze ook leuk
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Statistieken
- Werken
- 42
- Ook door
- 3
- Leden
- 583
- Populariteit
- #43,005
- Waardering
- 3.2
- Besprekingen
- 14
- ISBNs
- 152
- Talen
- 4
Trigger warnings: Imprisonment of a father
Score: Four points out of ten.
I own this book.
This novel was part of a library giveaway since it was too old, few people read it, or both. Initially, it looked promising, so I got it and left it until I ran out of reading material. That is until I checked the ratings and reviews, and according to them, it looked like I would be disappointed. I picked it up and read it, and that sentiment happened. It could've been much better, but it underwhelmed me instead. It's not clear whether the author's other fictional works are better than Poppy's Hero. Maybe?
It starts with the first character I see, Poppy (which explains the title), whose last name I forgot living as a child of a Polish immigrant in England. Here's the central point: Poppy's father is in prison. Why? I don't know; the book never explained it to me. The tension builds as Poppy, alongside another character, Angel, devise a plan to break Poppy's father out of prison, but only a few pages in, it was unsuccessful. Here's where the flaws surface: like other works of fiction, the characters aren't relatable nor can I connect to them. I couldn't feel anything for them. The first half is where Poppy's Hero shines, since it has some action involving the prison break, but the second half had nothing much happening. I'm sure I'm not the target audience, so perhaps a younger reader would enjoy this one. Did I mention the cover is dated, and so is the content inside? I should expect that from now with all early 2010s novels.… (meer)