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Esteemed author Paul Bailey, who passed away last year at 87, was celebrated for his witty genius, profound compassion extending to his deeply imperfect creations, and an intelligence that never felt cold. His novels repeatedly investigated the role of remembrance within personal journeys, driven by sharp, rhythmic dialogue. Beyond novels, he worked as an autobiographer, verse writer, and other capacities—here is a guide to the books he left behind.

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Works That Offer Solace

The author appeared as an outgoing person, an excellent talker with a love for lighthearted gossip, as one character notes. Alongside pal fellow writer Beryl Bainbridge would watch Coronation Street and analyze it telephonically. This fondness for chatty conversations is evident in his novels Trespasses (from 1970) as well as Peter Smart’s Confessions (1977). The two present a main male protagonist besieged by comic, maddening, theatrical individuals, usually kin whose gravitational pull is unavoidable. “What’s so great about being normal?” Ralph’s mum questions in Trespasses after he discloses his homosexuality. Like an evening with your smartest, cheekiest pal.

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The Ones to Make You Laugh and Cry

Paul Bailey authored brilliantly about aging, early and late in his career. His initial fiction At the Jerusalem (from 1967) follows the life of Faith Gadny during her transition to a care facility, where fellow residents offer warmth lacking from staff, whose concern by asking “Why not view the TV, ladies?”. In his penultimate novel Chapman’s Odyssey (released in 2011), an elderly hospitalized man alternates between clashing with physicians (“I only drink superior wines”, he affirms when scolded for liver results) and being flooded by memories of his mother, lovers, literary figures such as Pip from Dickens or Emma from Austen. The two works are filled with funny exchanges but marked by the inevitable conclusion. Throughout his novels, smiles are deceptive. Within At the Jerusalem, “the matron grinned, then ended it abruptly”; Faith Gadny chuckles anxiously if her actions are questioned. Within Chapman’s Odyssey, Harry cautions that “my smiles aren’t what they seem”. Your laughter, nonetheless, is sincere.

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To Understand the Truth Beneath the Tales

Besides novels, Paul Bailey served as a skilled autobiographer, issuing two personal accounts. An Immaculate Mistake (published in 1990) stands as a masterpiece of memory, the heading taken from his parent’s remark labeling him an “accident” and questioning his presence. (“Aged, she was releasing her confidences,” he adds. “This one, she knew, would be of particular interest to me.”) Within these pages appear the sources of misguided, loving, frustrating parents within his fiction. It likewise portrays a beautiful image of a homosexual young man in that era, when homosexuality was illegal, and his family found it odd that a son would purchase flowers for his mum; and of a hopeful performer (Bailey acted prior to authoring) who memorized Hamlet at 15. His second memoir A Dog’s Life (from 2004) concentrates on existence alongside his mixed-breed dog Circe, his former partner David, his affection for Romania—that influenced future works including Kitty and Virgil, Uncle Rudolf, plus The Prince’s Boy—and loads of chatter, including a tale about Iris Murdoch dubbing a participant a “stupid cow”.

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If You’re Pressed for Time

Paul Bailey’s books are mostly concise—the notable Old Soldiers (from 1980) is under 100 pages—but for something shorter, explore his poems from his later career. The two collections the poetry collection Inheritance (from 2019) along with Joie de Vivre (2022) exhibit Bailey’s wit, empathy, precision in condensed form. These verses are rich with mortality and existence. Two romantic motifs repeat: for his mother (“I feel nearer to you now—/ I must confess—/ than when you lived”) and for his partner Jeremy Trevathan. Within the poem Amazement, he writes of the pleasure in enjoying “foolish television” side by side, ending with: “It’s amazing, somehow, to eat cheese and sip wine while the world darkens.”

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For a Single Must-Read

Most agree that Paul Bailey’s boldest work remains Gabriel’s Lament, shortlisted for the Booker prize in 1986. (He also judged the prize in 1982, a task he hated.) This novel the author was most proud of, despite the fact “it consumed all his energy”. It relates the narrative of Gabriel Harvey, whose mother vanishes while his dad transforms into a intolerable pretentious person following a financial windfall, and the events may link. It’s a depiction of 20th-century London, a story of mental breakdown, and equally humorous and sorrowful as anything Bailey wrote. Additionally, it prompted a follow-up, Sugar Cane (from 1993), which Bailey researched by going to such places to watch.