Untold Stories - by Alan Bennett (Paperback)

About the Book

"Untold Stories" brings together some of the finest and funniest writing by one of England's best-known literary figures. Bennett's first major collection since "Writing Home" contains previously unpublished work, along with his much celebrated diary for the years 1996 to 2004, and numerous other exceptional essays, reviews, and comic pieces.

Book Synopsis

Untold Stories brings together some of the finest and funniest writing by Alan Bennett, one of England's best-known literary figures.

"[Bennett] does what only the best writers can do--make us look at ourselves in a way we've never done before." --Michael Palin

Alan Bennett's first major collection since Writing Home contains previously unpublished work--including the title piece, a poignant memoir of his family and of growing up in Leeds--along with his much celebrated diary for the years 1996 to 2004, and numerous other exceptional essays, reviews, and comic pieces. In this highly anticipated compendium, the Today Book Club author of The Clothes They Stood Up In reveals a great many untold secrets and stories with his inimitable humor and wry honesty--his family's unspoken history, his memories of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, and his response to the success of his most recent play, The History Boys.

Since the success of Beyond the Fringe in the 1960s, Bennett has delighted audiences worldwide with writing that is, in his words, "no less serious because it is funny." The History Boys opened to great acclaim at the Royal National Theatre in 2004, winning numerous awards, and is scheduled to open in New York City in April 2006.

Review Quotes

"Surprising, funny, and deeply affecting . . . [Alan Bennett] is a prose stylist of disarming grace and sly humor." --The New York Times Book Review

"Untold Stories is intelligent, educated, engaging, humane, self-aware, cantankerous, and irresistibly funny. You want it to go on forever." --The Sunday Times (London)

"Painfully intimate, stoically comic . . . Bennett's deadpan, self-deprecating humor translates perfectly." --David Gates, O, The Oprah Magazine

"A great achievement and a book of lasting value." --The Guardian (U.K.)

"A masterpiece of reminiscence. There is probably no other distinguished English man of letters more instantly likable than Bennett." --Michael Dirda, The Washington Post Book World

"It is a glaring example of modern English frivolity that [Bennett] is not simply regarded--with awe and terror--as one of the greatest living English writers. . . . If you want to understand the cultural wars in England now, and if you want to come to grips with a great writer and a challenging mind, then Bennett is your man." --The Nation

"While he plays the old crank who is put upon by the world as it is, Bennett reveals an eye for detail and a feel for the complexity of human interactions." --Publishers Weekly

"[Bennett] is a fine storyteller. . . . His memories of fellow actors Peter Cook and Dudly Moore are wry, witty, and honest." --Library Journal

About the Author

Alan Bennett has been one of England's leading dramatists since the success of Beyond the Fringe in the 1960s. His work includes the Talking Heads television series, and the stage plays Forty Years On, The Lady in the Van, A Question of Attribution, and The Madness of King George III. His play, The History Boys (now a major motion picture), won six Tony Awards, including best play, in 2006. In the same year his memoir, Untold Stories, was a number-one bestseller in the United Kingdom.