March 2014 Guest Editor Jojo Moyes on Behind the Scenes at the Museum.
I would, frankly, read Kate Atkinson's shopping list. This was the first book which really made me understand the importance of 'voice'. She's a writer who inspires as she's brave, and inventive, and you never know where her novels are going to go next, all too rare a trait, in my opinion.
The Lovereading view...
This is very special. Even with all she has written since and with her change of direction into crime mysteries this, her first novel, in my mind still stands out as her best. It is simply just the life of Ruby and her dysfunctional family. It’s warm, addictive, quite wonderful – and quite unlike anything else she has written.
A "Piece of Passion" from the publisher...
‘I have a vivid memory of the first time I read the first page of Kate Atkinson’s first novel. It was nearly 10 years after I’d left York and in a page I was back there, in the streets around the Minster – transported by the voice of an unborn child to a world that was familiar but warped.
Never mind its unusual developmental stage, the voice was immediately distinct, a little mad, a little caustic, and yet brilliantly true and completely hilarious. It was delicious. Behind the Scenes at the Museum is in a class of its own. The odd structure, tone, cast of characters all made it unique, exciting , a bit disturbing and utterly captivating.
It made me laugh and it made me cry. I think it is a masterpiece.' Susanna Wadeson, Publishing Director at Transworld
A twenty-fifth anniversary edition of award-winning, bestselling author Kate Atkinson's debut novel, Behind the Scenes at the Museum, a deeply moving and deeply funny family story of happiness and heartbreak National Bestseller Winner of the Whitbread Book of the YearA New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year Ruby Lennox begins narrating her own life at the moment of her conception and from there takes the reader on a whirlwind tour of the twentieth century as seen through the eyes of a girl determined to learn more about her family and the secrets it keeps. Kate Atkinson's dazzling first novel, named the 1995 Whitbread Book of the Year in England, is a darkly comic, deeply moving story of family heartbreak and happiness.
| Primary Genre | Family Drama |
| Recommendations: |
A twenty-fifth anniversary edition of award-winning, bestselling author Kate Atkinson's debut novel, Behind the Scenes at the Museum, a deeply moving and deeply funny family story of happiness and heartbreak National Bestseller Winner of the Whitbread Book of the YearA New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year Ruby Lennox begins narrating her own life at the moment of her conception and from there takes the reader on a whirlwind tour of the twentieth century as seen through the eyes of a girl determined to learn more about her family and the secrets it keeps. Kate Atkinson's dazzling first novel, named the 1995 Whitbread Book of the Year in England, is a darkly comic, deeply moving story of family heartbreak and happiness.
Behind the Scenes at the Museum features in the following genres: Family Drama, eBooks of the Month, Fiction, Recommendations
Paperback. Not Available.
Behind the Scenes at the Museum was written by Kate Atkinson and published by Picador USA
Behind the Scenes at the Museum has 336 pages
