Bainbridge, Beryl. (b. 1932).

W o r k

- writes black comedies with eccentric characters exposing human folly and self-deception

- uses merciless, sardonic, even macabre humour x but: sympathetic to her characters, both male and female

- early period: preoccupied with domestic warfare between the sexes

- later period: draws on real lives and historical events, fictionalizes Great British disasters (Scott's expedition, the Crimean War, the Titanic)

The Bottle Factory Outing (1974):

- a discomforting black comedy concerned with the restrained world of working-class characters

- focuses on a household shared by two women, their mutual relationship, and their relationships with men

The Birthday Boys (1991):

- concerned with Captain Scott's doomed Antarctic expedition

- examines the fallible sides of Scott and his companions: their fears and weaknesses, their camaraderie, and their heroic foolishness

Every Man For Himself (1996):

- set on board the Titanic during its maiden voyage

- narrated by a young man called Morgan, supposedly the nephew of financier J. P. Morgan, and one of the designers of the ship

Master Georgie (1998):

- a historical novel set in the Crimean War

According to Queeney (2001):

- a fictional account of the last days of Samuel Johnson narrated by  Queeney Thrale > focuses on Johnson's misplaced passion for Queeney's mother, Mrs Hester Thrale

- largely takes the form of letters, each section is headed by a definition of a word from Johnson's Dictionary