A Weekend With Claude

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‘Genius’ - Sunday Times  

 An old snapshot shows a group of friends lounging in the sunshine, on a weekend in the country. They’re there at the invitation of Claude and his wife Julia. The girl in the centre is dreamy Lily, whose latest failed love affair forms the purpose of the weekender gathering, as Lily's friends set out to help her ensnare an unwitting father for her unborn child. Next to her is Norman, a Marxist romantic hell-bent on seducing his milk-white hostess; behind them is old, persecuted Shebah; and slightly apart, the young man on whom all hopes are pinned: quiet, pleasant Edward.

Told through the fractured narratives of Claude, Lily, Shebah and Norman, a darkly comic weekend of friendship and failure unravels. 

First published by Hutchinson in 1967

Revised edition published by Duckworth & Co. in 1981

Published in the US by George Braziller in 1982

Published by Fontana in 1983

Published by Penguin in 1994

Virago Modern Classics edition published in 2012

Forthcoming edition published by Daunt Books