 First edition (UK) | |
| Author | Beryl Bainbridge |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Duckworth (UK) George Braziller (US) |
Publication date | 1975 |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 160 |
| ISBN | 0-7156-0927-0 |
Sweet William is a 1975 novel written by Beryl Bainbridge, it was made into a 1980 film of the same name (starring Jenny Agutter and Sam Waterston) for which Bainbridge wrote the screenplay. [1]
Ann lives in Hampstead and works for the BBC in Bush House in London. She is recently engaged but her academic fiancé Gerald is leaving for America, intending her to follow. Shortly afterwards she meets William, a Scottish playwright who sweeps her off her feet and moves in. Within days she has "encouraged adultery, committed a breach of promise, given up her job, abetted an abortion". But William's a compulsive philanderer, twisting the truth to cover his tracks...
She based the title character on writer Alan Sharp with whom she had a daughter, "I didn’t exaggerate his character" recalled Beryl Bainbridge of her muse. "If anything I toned him down.". [2]
Katha Pollitt in The New York Times described the novel as being both witty and subtly and ominously grotesque, she finishes her review with "This is a strange, sly novel with a great deal to say about the mixture of resentment and dependency often mistaken for love." [3]
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Dame Beryl Margaret Bainbridge was an English writer. She was primarily known for her works of psychological fiction, often macabre tales set among the English working class. She won the Whitbread Awards prize for best novel in 1977 and 1996, and was nominated five times for the Booker Prize. She was described in 2007 as a national treasure. In 2008, The Times named Bainbridge on their list of the "50 greatest British writers since 1945".
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