Gillian Larkin Popular Books
Gillian Larkin Biography & Facts
Jill is a novel by English writer Philip Larkin, first published in 1946 by The Fortune Press, and reprinted by Faber and Faber (London) in 1964. It was written between 1943 and 1944, when Larkin was twenty-one years old and an undergraduate at St John's College, Oxford. Plot The novel is set in wartime Oxford, the city in which it was written. Protagonist John Kemp is a young man from "Huddlesford" in Lancashire, who goes up to Oxford. With great sympathy it analyses his emotions at this first experience of privileged southern life (he had never been south of Crewe). Socially awkward and inexperienced, Kemp is attracted by the reckless and dissipated life of his roommate Christopher Warner, a well-off southerner who has attended a minor public school, tellingly called "Lamprey College". The eponymous Jill is Kemp's imaginary sister, whom he invents to confound Warner. Kemp then discovers a real-life Jill called Gillian, the 15-year-old cousin of Warner's friend Elizabeth. Kemp becomes infatuated with Gillian, but his advances are thwarted by Elizabeth and rebuffed by Gillian. Larkin writes of his own experiences of Oxford during the war in the Introduction he added for the republication by Faber and Faber in 1964: Life in college was austere. Its pre-war pattern had been dispersed, in some instances permanently ... This was not the Oxford of Michael Fane and his fine bindings, or Charles Ryder and his plovers' eggs. Nevertheless, it had a distinctive quality. A boy with the surname Bleaney (we are not told his Christian name or indeed anything else about him) makes a fleeting appearance in 'Jill' as one of John Kemp's classmates at Huddlesford Grammar School. Larkin later used this unusual surname in his well-known poem 'Mr Bleaney', although there is nothing to indicate that it refers to the same person. Larkin's view of the novel Larkin considered the novel a youthful 'indiscretion' and described the plot as "immature". The first draft was heavily cut by the printer and Larkin later wrote: "I am sick of the Fortune Press. They only publish dirty novels and any printer who does their work is extra suspicious." No manuscript version exists, and Bloomfield, in his 1979 bibliography, says that Larkin destroyed the original typescript. When the book was re-published, Larkin reinstated the censored material. Reprints The book was later published in the USA, first by St. Martin's Press in 1965 and then, in 1976, by The Overlook Press, a small American publisher with a reputation for stylish limited editions. Jill was published in paperback by Faber and Faber, ISBN 0-571-22582-9 in 2005. References Further reading An Enormous Yes: in memoriam Philip Larkin (1986), ed. by Harry Chambers. Calstock: Peterloo Poets Philip Larkin: A Writer's Life, Andrew Motion (1993) The Devil at Oxford: Philip Larkin's Jill by Nina Chasteen (1990). Discover the Gillian Larkin popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Gillian Larkin books.
Best Seller Gillian Larkin Books of 2024
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A Lesson In Deceit
Gillian LarkinJulia Blake runs her own cleaning company. She has the unfortunate habit of finding murdered people.In this story, Julia travels to Edinburgh University to visit her son, Sam....
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Aiming For Death
Gillian LarkinA short cozy murder mysteryJulia Blake runs her own cleaning company. She has the unfortunate habit of finding murdered people.After a bet goes wrong, Julia is forced to clean The ...
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Death Shows Up
Gillian LarkinJulia Blake runs her own cleaning business. She has the unfortunate knack of getting herself involved in murder investigations.Julia provides moral support for her friend, Louisa, ...
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Virtually Scared To Death
Gillian LarkinA Short Murder Mystery Julia Blake runs her own cleaning business. The first time she sees a dead body is when she discovers one of her clients, Mark Castle, lying dead o...
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A Clean Murder
Gillian LarkinA short cozy mystery.Ray's window cleaner, Linus Watkins, has been cleaning Ray's windows for years. As did Linus' father before him. So when Linus suffers an accident and is out o...
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Murder Makes A Claim
Gillian LarkinJulia Blake runs her own cleaning business. She has the unfortunate knack of getting herself involved in murder investigations.Julia agrees to cover some cleaning work for a friend...
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A Market Murder
Gillian LarkinA short cozy murder mysteryJulia Blake runs her own cleaning company. She has the unfortunate habit of finding murdered people.Julia helps her sister, Anna, run a stall at the farm...
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Julia Blake Cozy Mysteries - Box Set 1
Gillian LarkinA collection of 7 cozy mysteries with cleaning lady/amateur sleuth, Julia Blake. A Secret KillerIn this story, Julia visits one of her clients, a genealogist called Hugo Barne...
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Death At The Spa
Gillian LarkinJulia Blake runs her own cleaning business. She has the unfortunate knack of getting herself involved in murder investigations.Julia goes on a spa break with her mum. They loo...
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A Fair Murder
Gillian LarkinJulia Blake runs her own cleaning business. She has the unfortunate knack of getting herself involved in murder investigations.In this story, Julia helps out at the school fair for...
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Death Takes A Trip
Gillian LarkinJulia Blake runs her own cleaning business. She has the unfortunate knack of getting herself involved in murder investigations.When one of Julia's elderly clients, Douglas Pedley, ...
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A Party To Die For
Gillian LarkinJulia Blake runs her own cleaning business and has been working for Fiona Doyle for a few years.When Fiona's daughter has a party Julia helps her sister to do the catering. Fiona i...
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A Deadly Restoration
Gillian LarkinJulia's neighbour, Leo Kennedy, is having restoration work done to his house. He's managed to upset neighbours and builders in the short time that he has lived there.One night, Jul...
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A Secret Killer
Gillian LarkinJulia Blake runs her own cleaning business. She also has the unfortunate knack of discovering the bodies of people who have been murdered.In this story, Julia visits one of her cli...
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The Final Scene
Gillian LarkinA short cozy mysteryRay and Cain appear as extras on a TV show. All goes well, and Cain even gets to meet his hero, Jason Diamond.Later on, Cain receives a note from Jason inviting...
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Knitting And Murder
Gillian LarkinJulia Blake runs a cleaning business. She has the unfortunate habit of finding murder victims.In this story, Julia's colleague, Cain, asks for her help. He's met a young woman call...
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A Date With Revenge
Gillian LarkinA short cozy mysteryJulia Blake runs her own cleaning company. She also has the unfortunate habit of finding murdered people.Julia agrees to go on a dating event with her friend/cl...
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The Missing Wife
Gillian LarkinA short murder mystery"His wife has been kidnapped, and he's out fishing?"Ray and Cain are enjoying a peaceful morning fishing when a fellow fisherman gives them some shocking news...
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Exercising the Past
Gillian LarkinJulia Blake runs her own cleaning business. She has the unfortunate knack of getting herself involved in police investigations.Julia's client and friend, Sonia Cuthbert has recentl...
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Julia Blake Short Cozy Mysteries - Box Set 1
Gillian Larkin4 Short Cozy MysteriesJulia Blake runs her own cleaning company. She has the unfortunate habit of finding murdered people.A Lesson In DeceitIn this story, Julia travels to Edi...