🔗 Share this article Discovering the Creative Universe of Paul Bailey The novelist Paul Bailey, who died in October aged 87, was celebrated for possessing a comic brilliance, profound compassion extending to the worst personalities in his stories, and a cleverness that was never clinical. His literary works often explored the role of remembrance in shaping lives, fueled by sharp, rhythmic dialogue. Apart from fiction, he was also a memoirist, poet, and more—here is a guide to the books he left behind. Books for Companionship Bailey was an outgoing person, a skilled communicator who adored lighthearted gossip, as one character notes. He and friend fellow writer Beryl Bainbridge often enjoyed Coronation Street and debrief by phone. This fondness for chatty conversations is evident in his novels Trespasses (from 1970) and Peter Smart’s Confessions (1977). Each includes a main male protagonist besieged by humorous, irritating, exaggerated personalities, often close relatives whose impact cannot be avoided. “Why would anyone desire normality?” queries Ralph’s mother in Trespasses after he discloses his homosexuality. Like an evening with your wittiest, boldest friend. Books Blending Humor and Sorrow The novelist penned excellently regarding elderly life, early and late in his career. His debut novel the novel At the Jerusalem (from 1967) details the journey of Faith Gadny while she adapts to a care facility, where fellow residents offer warmth missing from caregivers, whose engagement through questions “Aren’t you watching television?”. In the novel before his final Chapman’s Odyssey (from 2011), an aged patient alternates between arguing with doctors (“I only drink superior wines”, he insists when scolded for liver results) and confronting past remembrances from his parent, romances, fictional icons such as Pip from Dickens or Emma from Austen. The two works include humorous dialogues yet shadowed by approaching finality. Throughout his novels, laughter is suspect. In that book, “the matron grinned, then ended it abruptly”; Faith Gadny chuckles anxiously when confronted about her behavior. Within Chapman’s Odyssey, Harry advises that “my grins are misleading”. Readers’ smiles, however, are authentic. If You Want the Facts Behind the Fiction In addition to fiction, The author excelled as a skilled autobiographer, issuing two personal accounts. the memoir An Immaculate Mistake (published in 1990) is a masterwork of memory, the heading taken from his mother’s words that “You were our mistake. You ought not to be here, by rights.”. (“Elderly, she disclosed hidden truths,” he comments. “This one, she knew, would be of particular interest to me.”) Here we see the origins of flawed, caring, annoying mothers and fathers in his novels. Additionally, it depicts an evocative portrait of a homosexual young man in the 1940s–50s, during a time of anti-gay laws, and his kin viewed it as suspicious that a son would purchase flowers for his mum; and of a hopeful performer (Bailey acted preceding his literary career) who could recite Hamlet as a teen. His second memoir A Dog’s Life (2004) focuses on life with his mongrel puppy Circe, his former partner David, his fondness for Romania—which motivated future works including Kitty and Virgil, the title Uncle Rudolf, and The Prince’s Boy—and loads of chatter, including a tale about Iris Murdoch dubbing a participant a “foolish person”. If You’re Pressed for Time Paul Bailey’s books are generally brief—the impactful Old Soldiers (1980) is just over 100 pages—yet for an even briefer option, try his poetry from his later career. The pair of volumes the poetry collection Inheritance (2019) and the title Joie de Vivre (released in 2022) display his cleverness, sympathy, exactness in small packages. These writings are rich with endings and beginnings. Two affectionate topics reappear: for his mother (“Now I’m closer—/ I have to say—/ than in life”) and for his spouse Jeremy Trevathan. Within the poem Amazement, he writes of the happiness from enjoying “foolish television” side by side, concluding with: “It’s remarkable, this simple act of consuming cheese and wine as darkness falls.” When Choosing Just One It is widely accepted that Bailey’s most ambitious novel is Gabriel’s Lament, nominated for the Booker in 1986. (He was a Booker judge in 1982, a role he disliked.) This work Paul Bailey valued most, even though “it drained me. It took everything out of me”. It follows the narrative of Gabriel Harvey, whose mum disappears and a father who becomes an insufferable elitist upon receiving money, with possible connections. It’s a depiction of 20th-century London, a story of mental breakdown, and equally humorous and sorrowful like his other works. Additionally, it prompted a follow-up, Sugar Cane (1993), which the author studied by visiting brothels as an observer.