The Making of Henry
  • Published: 1 August 2005
  • ISBN: 9780099472162
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 352
  • RRP: $29.99

The Making of Henry

Formats & editions
EBook
1 Feb 2011
Paperback
1 Aug 2005
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A riotous comedy about the ghosts of the past and the surprises of the present, from the master of farce and winner of the Man Booker Prize 2010.

One day, out of the blue, Henry Nagel inherits a sumptuous apartment in St John's Wood. Divine intervention? Or his late father's love nest? Henry doesn't know, but he is glad to escape the North. After nearly sixty years of angry disappointment, Henry's life is about to change.

Not that the ghosts of Henry's past are prepared to disappear without a struggle - his old school-friend and rival Osmond 'Hovis' Belkin, currently enjoying success in Hollywood; his tragic great aunt Marghanita for whom Henry once entertained a dangerous passion; and his father Izzi, upholsterer turned illusionist, fire-eater and origamist, whose shade Henry interrogates relentlessly. But the present clamours as loudly as the past. His dyspeptic neighbour Lachlan wants his sympathy; Lachlan's sloppy red setter, Angus, wants a walk; and Moira, the waitress with the crooked smile and custard hair, seems to want him. Kicking and screaming every inch of the way, Henry realises he might finally be falling in love.
  • Published: 1 August 2005
  • ISBN: 9780099472162
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 352
  • RRP: $29.99
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About the author

Howard Jacobson

Howard Jacobson has written sixteen novels and five works of non-fiction. He won the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Award in 2000 for The Mighty Walzer and then again in 2013 for Zoo Time. In 2010 he won the Man Booker Prize for The Finkler Question; he was also shortlisted for the prize in 2014 for J.

Also by Howard Jacobson

What Will Survive of Us
Mother's Boy
Live a Little
Pussy
Shylock is My Name
J: A Novel
The Act of Love
See all

Praise for The Making of Henry

What elevates The Making of Henry..is the way it talks about love. That, and being funny

Guardian

This is brilliantly, biliously funny. It is also painfully, movingly sad...Expansive and compassionate... Sharp and hilarious, this latest novel shows Jacobson at his best

Observer

Our funniest living writer

Alison Pearson

One of the country's very best writers. The British Philip Roth

Jonathan Freedland

Jacobson's writing is as luscious and funny as ever... You're never far from comic brilliance

Daily Telegraph

This is a beautifully rounded portrait of a man gazing into the prism of the past... And love, no less, is the key, exquisitely articulated and celebrated

Sunday Telegraph

Terrific... Jacobson is at the top of his form

Evening Standard

Masterly... powerful

Independent

Stuffed with brilliant hilarity

Spectator