As previously mentioned, I foisted Edward St. Aubyn's last book (Mother's Milk) upon nearly everyone I know after reading it in 2005. It was published here by Open City and enjoyed a bit of extra publicity in when it was shortlisted for the Booker in 2006. Nonetheless, St. Aubyn doesn't seem to be as well known in the U.S. as in his native U.K., so I still recommend it constantly, along with his previously published trilogy, Some Hope.
So I was happy to see that Mother's Milk just won the Prix Femina Etranger. The Times on Sunday has an interview on the subject here. It talks a bit about St. Aubyn's two earlier novels, On The Edge and A Clue to the Exit, both of which I was desperate to read after finishing the trilogy and finally found via Amazon UK used books, although it made me $100 poorer because those books were apparently out of print at the time. Fortunately, recent accolades seem to have convinced Picador to republish them with a Feb 1 '08 pub date, so you can get them now via Amazon UK for the (relatively) low, low price of £ 4.75. (On the Edge takes place at Esalen, by the way--a detail of which should make it of interest to at least half of yuppie Brooklyn.)
Posted by Elizabeth Spiers at January 28, 2008 7:17 AM