Porky (novel)
 First edition | |
| Author | Deborah Moggach |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Sue Wilks[1] |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Jonathan Cape |
Publication date | 12 May 1983[2] |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print & ebook |
| Pages | 236 |
| ISBN | 0-224-02948-7 |
Porky, is the fifth novel by English author Deborah Moggach, first published in 1983 by Jonathan Cape and recommended in OUP's Good Fiction Guide.[3]
Plot introduction
'Porky' is Heather's nickname because her father keeps pigs in a field at their ramshackle bungalow just off the A4 near Heathrow Airport. Heather is eleven when her mother has an extended stay in hospital over the birth of her second child; leaving Heather alone with her father at home. A sexual relationship starts between them. As Heather grows up her abuse ends up poisoning everything in her life...
Reception
- An 'extraordinarily skilful account of a childhood blasted by what is now acknowledged to be a more widespread offence than was previously recognised: incest', Anita Brookner, London Review of Books.[4]
- 'Deborah Moggach conveys with chilling skill the process by which a fundamentally bright, decent child becomes infested by corruption.', The Spectator[5]
- Gay Firth writing in The Times warns 'readers of despairing disposition or dainty susceptibilities will pass by on the other side, shuddering' but goes on to praise the author for 'sustaining a first-person register so level in its tone of quiet desperation, so careful to avoid blatant shock, as to hold back the tidal wave of revulsion and pity which threatens, but never quite engulfs the reader'.[6]
References
- ^ "Porky. - Moggach, Deborah". Antiqbook.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-07-20.
- ^ "Edition details". Fantasticfiction.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-07-20.
- ^ page 353 of Good Fiction Guide ed. Jane Rogers, 2nd edition published 2005 by OUP
- ^ Brookner, Anita (2 June 1983). "Good Girls and Bad Girls". London Review of Books. 5 (10): 20–21. Retrieved 2012-07-20.
- ^ Moggach, Deborah. "Porky review". Deborahmoggach.com. Retrieved 2012-07-20.
- ^ 'God, love, and the professionals of discontent' by Gay Firth, The Times, Thursday, May 12, 1983; pg. 11; Issue 61530; col A
External links
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