Gentleman and Ladies
{{Short description|1968 novel by Susan Hill}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{infobox book |
| name = Gentleman and Ladies
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| image = File:GentlemanAndLadies.jpg
| caption = First edition
| author = Susan Hill
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| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
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| publisher = Hamish Hamilton (UK)
Walker & Co. (US)
| release_date = 1968
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Gentleman and Ladies is a novel by English author Susan Hill, published in 1968, runner-up for the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize.Foreword to A Change for the Better, Penguin 1980 edition. It is notable in exploring themes of death, mental health, and elderly well-being, despite Hill's relative youth at the time of writing.{{cite web|title=Gentleman and Ladies|url=https://www.fantasticfiction.com/h/susan-hill/gentlemen-and-ladies.htm|work=Fantastic Fiction|access-date=29 December 2012}}{{cite book|author1=James Hogg|author2=Karl Hubmayer|author3=Dorothea Steiner|title=English Language and Literature: Positions & Dispositions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AdVZAAAAMAAJ|year=1990|publisher=Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik der Universität Salzburg|isbn=978-0-7734-0559-2}}
Plot reception
The story begins at a funeral in the village of Haverstock and ends at a wedding. A stranger appears at the funeral of Faith Lavender, holding stolen snowdrops. Faith's two sisters and neighbours are perplexed by the man, and soon 'undercurrents of fierce emotion, that until now have been suppressed, reach the surface while the tensions rise'.Penguin 1980 edition, back cover
Reception
In The New York Times, Hill's style is "Briskly impressionistic is better than its substance. Bits and pieces of life among these English senior citizens are sharply illuminated, but the book as a whole has the texture of a soap opera".The New York Times, March 30, 1969, page 43.
Adaptation
BBC Radio 4 produced an adaptation of a radio play in January 1993 featuring Patricia Hayes, Stephanie Cole, Sian Phillips, Gwen Watford and Anna Cropper.[https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00sw542 BBC Radio 4 Extra: Susan Hill - Gentleman and Ladies] Retrieved 25/9/21.[https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/search/0/20?q=Gentleman+and+ladies#top First broadcast: Thu 7th Jan 1993, 10:00 on BBC Radio 4 FM] Retrieved 25/9/21.
References
{{reflist}}
{{Novels by Susan Hill}}
Category:Hamish Hamilton books