🔗 Share this article

Paul Bailey, whose life ended last autumn at 87, was renowned for a humorous talent, intense sympathy including for the worst personalities in his stories, and an intelligence that was never clinical. His novels repeatedly investigated the role of remembrance in shaping lives, driven by sharp, rhythmic dialogue. In addition to storytelling, he also excelled as a memoirist, poet, and more—this is an overview to the books he left behind.

---

Books for Companionship

The author appeared as a gregarious individual, an excellent talker with a love for casual small talk, in the words of a creation. Alongside pal Beryl Bainbridge used to view the TV show Coronation Street and debrief by phone. This pleasure in informal dialogues is evident in his books the novel Trespasses (from 1970) and the title Peter Smart’s Confessions (1977). The two present a leading man surrounded by comic, maddening, theatrical individuals, frequently family members whose gravitational pull is unavoidable. “Why would anyone desire normality?” Ralph’s mum questions in Trespasses after he discloses his homosexuality. Similar to spending time with your wittiest, boldest friend.

---

The Ones to Make You Laugh and Cry

The novelist penned superbly on old age, throughout his literary path. His debut novel the novel At the Jerusalem (from 1967) follows the life of Faith Gadny during her transition to a care facility, in which other inhabitants provide kindness absent in employees, whose engagement through questions “Why not view the TV, ladies?”. In his penultimate novel the title Chapman’s Odyssey (released in 2011), a senior in hospital switches between disputing with medics (“My wine selection is exclusive”, he states after reprimands over liver tests) and experiencing a rush of recollections from his parent, romances, fictional icons like Dickens’s Pip to Austen’s Emma. Both books include comic interactions yet shadowed by approaching finality. In his stories, smiles are deceptive. In that book, “the matron smiled, shut the smile off quickly”; The character giggles with unease if her actions are questioned. In that novel, Harry advises that “my smiles aren’t what they seem”. Your laughter, nonetheless, is sincere.

---

For the Reality Behind the Stories

In addition to fiction, Bailey was a skilled autobiographer, publishing two autobiographies. the memoir An Immaculate Mistake (1990) serves as a classic of memory, its title derived from his mum’s statement calling him “our error” and saying he shouldn’t exist. (“Aged, she was releasing her confidences,” he comments. “She understood this would captivate me.”) Within these pages appear the sources of misguided, loving, frustrating parents throughout his books. It also paints a beautiful image of a gay youth in that era, when same-sex acts were criminal, and his kin viewed it as suspicious that a son would purchase flowers for his mum; and of a would-be thespian (The writer was on stage prior to authoring) who could recite Hamlet as a teen. His subsequent life story A Dog’s Life (2004) focuses on existence alongside his mixed-breed dog Circe, his ex-partner David, his affection for Romania—that influenced subsequent books such as Kitty and Virgil, Uncle Rudolf, as well as The Prince’s Boy—and plenty of gossip, including a tale about Iris Murdoch calling an audience member a “foolish person”.

---

If You’re Pressed for Time

The author’s fiction tend to be short—the notable Old Soldiers (from 1980) is under 100 pages—but for something shorter, sample his verse in his final phase. The two collections Inheritance (2019) and the title Joie de Vivre (from 2022) exhibit his humor, compassion, accuracy in small packages. These verses are rich with endings and beginnings. Two romantic motifs repeat: about his parent (“Now I’m closer—/ I have to say—/ than in life”) and for his partner Jeremy Trevathan. In that piece, he writes of the happiness from viewing “a silly TV show” as a couple, ending with: “It’s awesome, in its way, this act of eating cheese / and drinking wine, as the world keeps darkening.”

---

For a Single Must-Read

Most agree that the author’s most expansive book remains Gabriel’s Lament, nominated for the Booker in 1986. (He served as a judge for the award in 1982, an experience he despised.) This was the book Paul Bailey valued most, even though “it exhausted him completely”. It follows the narrative of Gabriel Harvey, with a missing mother and a father who becomes a intolerable pretentious person after inheriting wealth, with possible connections. It serves as a portrait of 20th-century London, a story of mental breakdown, and equally humorous and sorrowful as anything Bailey wrote. To continue, it led to a follow-up, Sugar Cane (from 1993), which the author studied by going to such places to watch.