The Facts of Life
core novel 2002 The Facts of Life
Record
| First published | 2002 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 3.92 (1,272 ratings, collected 2026-09-28) |
| Page count | 263 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780575072305 |
Synopsis
Three weeks after VE Day, in the blitzed city of Coventry, Cassie Vine, just twenty-one, stands on the steps of a bank holding a baby she was supposed to hand over to a stranger, as she once did with her first child. This time she cannot let go. Cassie is the youngest of Martha Vine's seven daughters, wayward and fey, prone to "blue" periods in which she wanders off without warning, and gifted, like her formidable mother, with second sight: Martha is visited by ghosts, and Cassie once foresaw the night the Luftwaffe burned the city. Rather than see the boy adopted, Martha rules that her daughters will raise Frank between them, and the novel follows his first ten years as he is passed from household to household, from a farm in the Warwickshire countryside to a collapsing socialist commune, with the dead never far from the family table.
Where it sits
- Universe: The Facts of Life
- Series: not part of a registered series (standalone work within its universe)
- Author: Graham Joyce
Awards (verified)
- World Fantasy Award (Best Novel), 2003: won; Tied with Patricia A. McKillip's Ombria in Shadow.
- British Fantasy Award (August Derleth Award (Best Novel)), 2003: nominated; Shortlisted.
Notes
- Gollancz, December 2002; US edition Atria, June 2003. Historical fantasy set in Coventry during and after the Second World War.
Sources
- Wikipedia
- https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780743463423
- https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/graham-joyce/the-facts-of-life-2/
- The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
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