Author
Stanley Middleton
Birth Date
August 1, 1919
(89 Years)
Death Date
July 25, 2009
Associated Country
United Kingdom
Stanley Middleton (1919–2009) was an English novelist best known for his quietly observant fiction about middle-class life in postwar Britain. He was born in Bulwell and spent most of his life in Nottingham, where he worked as a teacher and later as a lecturer in education.
Middleton wrote more than 40 novels over his career, often focusing on the everyday lives, relationships, and moral choices of ordinary people. His work is noted for its realism, psychological insight, and subtle exploration of personal dilemmas rather than dramatic plotlines.
He gained his greatest recognition with Holiday (1974), which won the Booker Prize (shared with Nadine Gordimer). Although never as widely known as some of his contemporaries, Middleton is respected for his consistency, craftsmanship, and sensitive portrayal of domestic and social life in England.
Middleton wrote more than 40 novels over his career, often focusing on the everyday lives, relationships, and moral choices of ordinary people. His work is noted for its realism, psychological insight, and subtle exploration of personal dilemmas rather than dramatic plotlines.
He gained his greatest recognition with Holiday (1974), which won the Booker Prize (shared with Nadine Gordimer). Although never as widely known as some of his contemporaries, Middleton is respected for his consistency, craftsmanship, and sensitive portrayal of domestic and social life in England.
Books
Valley Of Decision 2014
Mary and David Blackwell are content in their marriage but when Mary, a talented opera singer, is offered the chance to sing in America, everything changes. David, a music teacher and amateur cellist,...
One winter evening Alistair Murray opens his door to Eleanor Franks, a woman he has not seen for decades. A man apparently content with his life, even his retirement and bereavement have come as part...
David and Alison are a successful young couple planning their wedding, but they are surrounded by family and friends whose marriages have ended in failure. As each member of this close community...
Harris’s Requiem 2014
Thomas Harris is on the cusp of success as a classical composer with a growing reputation.
When his father, a coal miner, dies Thomas decides to write a requiem for him which is also a thinly veiled...
The Golden Evening 2014
A brother and sister – Bernard is at college, Mary is still at school - are struggling with their own young lives and loves, near the end of one beautiful summer. At the same time, their mother Ivy is...
A Cautious Approach 2010
Shortly before his death last year, Stanley Middleton completed this, his last novel, which concludes a unique depiction of middle-class life in 'Middle England', quietly and cumulatively over many...
Mother's Boy 2006
John Riley is in his early thirties and has been separated from his wife, Helen, for two years. Deeply involved with his work as an accountant, he has given little thought to saving his marriage until...
Sterner Stuff 2005
Frank Montgomery is principal of an art college, coping with an aging father and a mother in law on the dark descent into Alzheimer's. His marriage is strong, his relationships supportive - but in one...
Brief Garlands 2004
As aging slowly entwines John Stone, retired headmaster at Beechnall, his wife Peg and their various friends and relatives, and as past certainties recede, the solid, decent world of provincial life...
Holiday 1974
Set in a quiet English seaside town, Holiday follows Edwin Fisher, a middle-aged academic who retreats alone for a short vacation, seeking distance from the routines and responsibilities of his...