Iris - Hardcover
Iris:
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About the Author:
Jean Marsh, the much-acclaimed British author of both the television and novel versions of The House of Eliott, in an earlier incarnation was co-author of the Emmy Award-winning series Upstairs, Downstairs, in which she played the unforgettable Rose. Her articles have appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post.
From Publishers Weekly:
Upstairs, Downstairs creator Marsh compassionately depicts a stark postwar London through the eyes of 17-year-old "tart" Iris Winston, who shares with her pre-Beatles motherland a dangerous blend of innocence, na?vet? and a kind of willful refusal to see things for what they are. Iris convinces herself she isn't really a prostitute, though she regularly accepts cab fare, dinner and small gifts in exchange for providing predatory men with sexual favors, as when she talks dirty to an MP over lunch. Her lifestyle, insouciant but rife with danger and humiliations, centers on hip clubs and expensive restaurants, in stark contrast to the gloomy family flat she returns to every night. The virginal, childlike Iris seems oblivious to what others think of her, but in one afternoon, everything changes. Five upper-class men with whom she had been sharing a midday drink take her to an apartment and gang-rape her. Iris keeps this brutal awakening secret as she continues to live party to party and pound to pound, wary of the city's underworld but finding a dubious security among gay friends and Mafia families. Marsh's measured plot takes a sharp turn when Iris becomes a stand-in for a famous actress and marries Peter, a sympathetic restaurateur. Thirteen years later, in 1965, their marriage is on the rocks. Peter leaves for New York while Iris runs their restaurant/club, where she encounters Michael, the brother of one of her rapists. Though Iris can trust Michael, the secret surfaces and she uses her organized crime connections to protect her reputation. The two disparate parts of Marsh's story are held together only tenuously, however, and elements meant to link the two, such as the London-New York mob subplots, seem contrived. Actress and novelist Marsh does, however, paint an affecting portrait of Iris's loss of innocence, backgrounded by sharp and vivid societal detail. (July)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherMacmillan Pub Ltd
- Publication date1999
- ISBN 10 0333711548
- ISBN 13 9780333711545
- BindingHardcover
- Number of pages344
- Rating
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Iris
Published by
Macmillan Pub Ltd
(1999)
ISBN 10: 0333711548
ISBN 13: 9780333711545
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Book Description Hardback. Condition: Good. The book has been read but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact and the cover is intact. Some minor wear to the spine. Seller Inventory # GOR008675587
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Book Description Hardback. Condition: Very Good. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged. Seller Inventory # GOR009873781
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Iris (hb)
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Book Description Condition: Very Good. This book is in very good condition and will be shipped within 24 hours of ordering. The cover may have some limited signs of wear but the pages are clean, intact and the spine remains undamaged. This book has clearly been well maintained and looked after thus far. Money back guarantee if you are not satisfied. See all our books here, order more than 1 book and get discounted shipping. . Seller Inventory # 7719-9780333711545
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Iris (hb)
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Book Description Condition: Very Good. Shipped within 24 hours from our UK warehouse. Clean, undamaged book with no damage to pages and minimal wear to the cover. Spine still tight, in very good condition. Remember if you are not happy, you are covered by our 100% money back guarantee. Seller Inventory # 6545-9780333711545
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Iris
Published by
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ISBN 10: 0333711548
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Book Description Befriedigend/Good: Durchschnittlich erhaltenes Buch bzw. Schutzumschlag mit Gebrauchsspuren, aber vollständigen Seiten. / Describes the average WORN book or dust jacket that has all the pages present. Seller Inventory # M00333711548-G
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Book Description Hardcover. Condition: GOOD. 1999-08-13. Macmillan. . Hardcover. Book: GOOD. 352pp. . Seller Inventory # NF-1003527
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Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine. 1st Edition. First edition, subsequent impression with number line '3 5 7 9 8 6 42'. SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR, WITHOUT DEDICATION ON TITLE PAGE. Some slight edge wear to top and bottom of jacket and spine, not price clipped (£16.99), no other inscriptions, internally clean tight and square, overall a vg++ copy. 344pp. It is London in the 1950s and early 60s. The gambling clubs, private dining rooms, corrupt politicians and gangsters who run Mayfair as well as the East End had never had it so good . . . Iris wasn't quite a call girl . . . she never took any money for that. But she didn't mind accepting a white fiver for the cab fare back to the dismal family flat, or little gifts, or champagne in heady and glamorous restaurants. She was living very dangerously, trading in ignorance and beauty - though not without a certain street savvy. But then she was plunged, with repugnant violence, into a world of seedy manipulation existing beneath the surface of London society. And innocence and ignorance suddenly become outdated luxuries . . . Acute social observation combines with a tender story of love and innocence in Jean Marsh's powerful novel. Signed by Author(s). Seller Inventory # 002833
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