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English
Fourth Estate Ltd
05 November 2002
Penelope Fitzgerald’s brilliant novel about life at an eccentric stage school.

In the 1960s, Freddie’s was the usual name for the Temple Stage School, which supplied the West End theatres with children for roles in everything from Shakespeare to pantomime. Freddie, the proprietress, is a formidable woman, of unknown age and provenance. But everybody who is anybody claims to know her. By sheer force of character and single-minded thrust she has turned herself into a national institution.

This story of what happened at Freddie’s is not only for theatre-lovers, but for people who care about children or hate them, or were – once upon a time – children themselves. In particular, it is for those of us who sometimes pretend to be what we are not – that is to say, act a little.

By:  
Introduction by:  
Imprint:   Fourth Estate Ltd
Country of Publication:   United Kingdom
Edition:   New edition
Dimensions:   Height: 198mm,  Width: 129mm,  Spine: 21mm
Weight:   240g
ISBN:   9780006542551
ISBN 10:   0006542557
Pages:   256
Publication Date:  
Audience:   General/trade ,  ELT Advanced
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active

Penelope Fitzgerald was one of the most elegant and distinctive voices in British fiction. Three of her novels, The Bookshop, The Beginning of Spring and The Gate of Angels have been shortlisted for the Booker Prize. She won the Prize in 1979 for Offshore. Her last novel, The Blue Flower, was the most admired novel of 1995, chosen no fewer than nineteen times in the press as the 'Book of the Year'. It won America's National Book Critics' Circle Award. She died in April 2000, at the age of eighty-three.

Reviews for At Freddie’s

'A jewel of a book.' Daily Mail 'The wit is crisp and dry, scenes and characters are deftly skewered. Whether you view the theatre as a noble passion or a wasting disease, you are equally certain to be regaled.' Guardian 'Enjoy the knowingness of the awful children, the weary fumblings of the professional actors, the constant witticisms at the expense of pretentious directors. An enjoyable, sharp novel...a delicious refreshment.' Margaret Forster


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