When We Were Romans
Author(s): Matthew Kneale
Nine-year-old Lawrence is the man in his family, watching protectively over his mother and his wilful little sister Jemima. When the three of them suddenly move to Rome it seems at first to be a great adventure: a long drive through the night to the city of popes and emperors. But as his mother's behaviour becomes increasingly erratic, and the threat that had forced them to Italy seems to have followed them there, Lawrence's excitement at his new surroundings gives way to something far harder to endure.
Told in the engaging voice of Lawrence, this haunting psychological novel powerfully evokes all the feelings of childhood - the triumphs, the jealousies, the fears, the possessions, and most of all, the love.
'Heartbreakingly moving ...Full of restraint and artistic integrity, this is a poignant, haunting and lovely novel'
- Joanna Briscoe, "Guardian"
'The road trip is narrated by Lawrence with insight, humour and sweetly erratic spelling ...The fragility of a family is sensed beautifully'
- "Financial Times"
'I believed in Lawrence as a character. His voice is skilfully realised, to the extent that I felt I could actually hear it ...I cried at the end'
- "Irish Times" First published 2007.
Product Information
"Extraordinary.... Enemies might be real or they might be imagined, but what's absolutely true for Lawrence is his unshakable belief in the conspiracy of his and his mother's love." --"The Washington Post Book World"
"If you enjoyed "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time," definitely pick up "When We Were Romans,"" --"The St. Petersburg Times"
"How much Lawrence understands of his family's tribulations is the book's central, poignant mystery; the consummate artistry with which Kneale captures this child's voice, its chief pleasure." --"Entertainment Weekly"
"Full of restraint and artistic integrity, this is a poignant, haunting and lovely novel." --"The Guardian"
"[Lawrence] is the literary first cousin of Roddy Doyle's Paddy Clarke . . . The heartbreak and triumph of "When We Were Romans "is that little Lawrence is the real thing." --"Literary Review"
"Matthew Kneale's lovely novel . . . is narrated by Lawrence with insight, humor and sweetly erratic spelling: it halts and splutters in rhythm with the children's whims and tantrums . . . the author has got inside a young, overburdened mind with convincing accuracy." --"Financial Times"
"The strength of Kneale's novel is not suspense but Lawrence's delicate sensibility . . . Lawrence's touchingly ingenuous language, his tetchy irritation with his baby sister, and his beleaguered optimism make him a genuinely affecting protagonist." --"Independent"
"Substantial and engaging . . .With consummate subtlety and sympathy, Kneale finds metaphorical hinges between the family's unfolding story and Lawrence's two intellectual interests-Roman emperors and astronomy." --"The Times"
"Lawrence's skillfulmaneuvering in a tricksy adult world is artfully depicted. His guileless voice only exacerbates the sense of dread, while its deceptive simplicity hides a chilling exploration of mental illness and maternal neglect." --"New Statesman"
Matthew Kneale won the 2000 Whitbread Book of the Year Award with English Passengers and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. He is also the author of Small Crimes in an Age of Abundance, Inside Rose's Kingdom, Sweet Thames (winner of the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize) and Mr. Foreigner (winner of the Somerset Maugham Prize). He lives in Rome with his wife and two children.
General Fields
- :
- : Pan Macmillan
- : Picador
- : 01 May 2008
- : 197mm X 130mm
- : United Kingdom
- : books
Special Fields
- : Matthew Kneale
- : Paperback
- : 708
- : 823.92
- : 296
- : Modern fiction