Middleton, Stanley

(British, 1919– )

Middleton sets all his fiction in his native Nottingham, and it is concerned with relationships and family life. Start with Holiday (1974, Booker Prize), the story of a teacher whose marriage collapses after the death of his son. He runs away to the seaside resort where he holidayed as a child, to take stock and, through meeting other holidaymakers, to work out his next move. In Against the Dark (1998) a couple who have both been hurt in previous relationships, make a new start together, with all the complex moral and practical decisions that involves.

Melvyn Bragg, Alan Sillitoe, Barry Hines  JR