Book Info
Format
Hardback256 pages
Publisher
Bloomsbury Publishing PLCPublication date
20th October 1999ISBN
9780747546115Children's Author 'Like-for-Like' recommendations
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Angelica's Grotto
Written by:
Russell Hoban
Illustrated by:
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RRP: £9.99 Saving £2.50 (25%)Synopsis
Angelica's Grotto is a pornographic website into which 72-year-old art historian Harold Klein wanders one evening. He first visits the Grotto after losing his inner voice , that censoring mechanism that keeps us from blurting our the first thing that pops into our heads.Reviews
Not a sequel as such, but this could be described as something of a companion piece to Hoban's 1976 novel Kleinzeit. Septuagenarian historian Harold Klein shares the similarly named Mr Kleinzeit's chronic ill-health and fascination with London's transport system as well as his allegorical search for spiritual harmony. Klein finds a kind of regeneration in his strange relationship with Melissa, a beautiful but heartless academic he meets through a pornographic web site. Sexually graphic, sometimes violent and always astonishing, this is another fine read from one of the great maverick talents of our time. (Kirkus UK)About The Author
Hoban was born in Lansdale, Pennsylvania, just outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of two Jewish Ukrainian immigrants. He was named after Russell Conwell.
After briefly attending Temple University, he enlisted in the Army at age 18 and served in the Philippines and Italy as a radio operator during World War II. During his military service, he married his first wife, Lillian Hoban (née Aberman), who later illustrated many of his books.
Hoban then worked as an illustrator (painting several covers for TIME, Sports Illustrated, and The Saturday Evening Post) and an advertising copywriter—occupations which several of his characters later shared—before writing and illustrating his first children's book, What Does It Do and How Does It Work. He wrote exclusively for children for the next decade, and was best known for his series of short books starring Frances, a temperamental badger child. The Mouse and His Child, a dark philosophical tale for older children, appeared in 1967 and was Hoban's first full-length novel.
In 1969, Hoban, his wife, and their four children travelled to London, intending to stay only a short time. The marriage dissolved, and while the rest of the family returned to the United States, Hoban remained in London and has resided there ever since. All of his adult novels except Riddley Walker, Pilgermann and Fremder are set in whole or part in contemporary London.
Hoban now lives with his second wife, Gundula Ahl; they have three children.
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