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Paul Bailey, who died in October aged 87, was renowned for a comic brilliance, intense sympathy including for his deeply imperfect creations, and a sharpness that avoided being sterile. His novels repeatedly investigated the influence of recollections in shaping lives, fueled by clever, syncopated conversations. 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

Paul Bailey proved a gregarious individual, a master conversationalist who adored “trivial chit-chat”, according to a fictional persona. Alongside pal Beryl Bainbridge used to view the serial drama Coronation Street and debrief by phone. This pleasure in gossipy exchanges appears within his novels the book Trespasses (1970) along with Peter Smart’s Confessions (dating to 1977). Both feature a leading man besieged by humorous, irritating, exaggerated personalities, frequently family members whose influence is inescapable. “What’s so great about being normal?” asks the mother of Ralph within Trespasses after he discloses his homosexuality. Comparable to hanging out with your smartest, cheekiest pal.

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The Ones to Make You Laugh and Cry

Bailey wrote excellently regarding elderly life, throughout his literary path. His initial fiction At the Jerusalem (published in 1967) follows Faith Gadny’s experiences while she adapts to a nursing home, where fellow residents provide kindness absent in employees, whose engagement by asking “Why not view the TV, ladies?”. Within his second-last book Chapman’s Odyssey (from 2011), an elderly hospitalized man alternates between disputing with medics (“I only drink superior wines”, he insists 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. Each volume contain funny exchanges but marked by the inevitable conclusion. In Bailey’s fiction, grins are unreliable. Within At the Jerusalem, “the matron beamed, then stopped suddenly”; Mrs Gadny laughs nervously when confronted about her behavior. In that novel, Harry advises that “my smiles aren’t what they seem”. The audience’s grins, though, are real.

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For the Reality Behind the Stories

In addition to fiction, Paul Bailey served as a talented life writer, publishing two autobiographies. the memoir An Immaculate Mistake (published in 1990) is a masterwork of recollection, its title derived from his mother’s words that “You were our mistake. You ought not to be here, by rights.”. (“Aged, she was releasing her confidences,” he notes. “This secret, she realized, would intrigue me.”) This book reveals the origins of misguided, loving, frustrating parents throughout his books. It likewise portrays an evocative portrait of a boy discovering his sexuality in the 1940s–50s, when homosexuality was illegal, and his relatives considered it strange that a son would purchase flowers for his mum; and of an aspiring actor (Paul Bailey performed before writing) who memorized Hamlet at 15. His second memoir A Dog’s Life (published in 2004) centers on life with his mongrel puppy Circe, his former partner David, his love for Romania—which motivated subsequent books such as Kitty and Virgil, Uncle Rudolf, plus The Prince’s Boy—and plenty of gossip, with a story regarding Iris Murdoch calling an audience member a “foolish person”.

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When Time Is Limited

Paul Bailey’s books tend to be short—the notable Old Soldiers (published in 1980) is barely 100 pages—yet for an even briefer option, explore his poems in his final phase. The two books Inheritance (published in 2019) and also the title Joie de Vivre (from 2022) showcase Bailey’s wit, empathy, precision in brief format. These verses are rich with death and life. Two love themes recur: about his parent (“I feel nearer to you now—/ I must confess—/ than when you lived”) and for his partner Jeremy Trevathan. In Amazement, he writes of the happiness from “watching an idiotic TV entertainment” together, concluding with: “It’s awesome, in its way, this act of eating cheese / and drinking wine, as the world keeps darkening.”

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When Choosing Just One

Most agree that Paul Bailey’s boldest work was Gabriel’s Lament, shortlisted for the Booker prize in 1986. (He was a Booker judge in 1982, a role he disliked.) This work Bailey felt proudest of, despite the fact “it consumed all his energy”. It follows the tale of Gabriel Harvey, with a missing mother while his dad transforms into an insufferable elitist after inheriting wealth, and the events may link. It’s a depiction of the city in that era, a story of mental breakdown, and equally humorous and sorrowful as anything Bailey wrote. Additionally, it prompted a subsequent book, Sugar Cane (1993), that he investigated by visiting brothels as an observer.