6.6 /10 1 Votes
Language English Media type Print & audio ISBN 0-7139-1413-0 Publisher Allen Lane Country United Kingdom | 3.3/5 Goodreads Publication date 1981 (UK), 1985 (US) Pages 224 Originally published 1981 Page count 224 Adaptations Shuttlecock (1993) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Similar Works by Graham Swift, Other books | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Shuttlecock is Graham Swift's critically acclaimed second novel, a psychological thriller published in 1981 by Allen Lane. It won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize in 1983, and is said to be the best of his earlier novels. It was not published in the US until 1985, after the success of Waterland.
Contents
Plot introduction
The story concerns Prentis, senior clerk in the 'dead crimes' department of the police archives in London, who is becoming increasingly frustrated and confused by the work he is being given by his enigmatic boss Quinn; he discovers crucial files are missing and suspects they are being deliberately withheld by Quinn. At home, Prentis is alienated from his wife and children and is obsessed about uncovering the truth about the wartime exploits of his father, who was a spy (codenamed 'Shuttlecock') behind enemy lines. His father published his memoirs but is now the inmate of a mental hospital following a breakdown in which he lost the ability to speak. As the story unfolds, Prentis suspects there may be links between Quinn's behaviour and his father's breakdown.
Reception
Quotes taken from back cover of 1997 Picador edition:
Film adaptation
In 1991 the novel was made into a film starring Alan Bates and Lambert Wilson.