A Kind of Loving

Overview

A Kind of Loving is a seminal novel in British working-class fiction. First published in 1960 it has been adapted for stage, television, radio, and was made into an iconic film starring Alan Bates, June Ritchie, and Thora Hird, directed by John Schlesinger.

Reviews

‘...WARMTH, LIVELINESS, HONESTY, COMPASSION...’ —SUNDAY TIMES

“UNSENTIMENTAL AND UNPATRONISING” —THE GUARDIAN

“OF THE RED-BLOODED WORKING-CLASS WRITERS WITH NORTHERN ROOTS – JOHN BRAINE, ALAN SILLITOE, DAVID STOREY, KEITH WATERHOUSE... STAN BARSTOW WAS ARGUABLY THE BEST... HIS AIM QUIETLY AMBITIOUS, AS HE SAW IT ‘SEEKING OUT THE UNIVERSAL IN THE PARTICULAR’.” —TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT

Author Biography

Stan Barstow was one of a generation of Northern writers including John Braine, Alan Sillitoe, David Storey, and Keith Waterhouse who, fifty years ago, took the literary establishment by storm with their gritty accounts of working-class life. Their arrival marked a revolution in English literature the effects of which continue to this day. Barstow was born in Horbury in the West Riding of Yorkshire in 1928. He was the only son of a miner. He left school at sixteen to work as a draughtsman in a local engineering firm.