Annal:1993 Whitbread Book Award for First Novel
From AwardAnnals
Results of the Whitbread Book Award in the year 1993. For a ranked list of books, try an honor roll:
- 1993 Whitbread-1st Novel winner
- Score: 10.43
Agnes Day has enjoyed the traditional experiences a middle-class upbringing has to offer: a comfortable home she is eager to escape, parents who love and misunderstand her, a terrifying bout of boarding school followed by an impressive and nearly useless university degree. Now she finds herself on her own and embarking on adult life, without a clue as to how that should actually work.
Living with her two best friends in the London suburbs, toiling as a junior editor at an obscure trade magazine, Agnes manages to give a convincing performance that everything is alright. But her roommates are acting strangely, her boyfriend’s strict schedule is becoming a nuisance, and the world in general seems increasingly out of her control. In great despair, Agnes decides to make it her business to set things straight. How she does this, and what she learns in the process, make for a novel that is a pure delight.
Rachel Cusk explores the business of growing up and moving on with a deftly comic, surprisingly moving touch, confirming her reputation as one of her generation’s smartest and most entertaining writers.
