The Outcast

About the Author ~ Sadie Jones
Sadie Jones was born in London. She grew up in a creative environment: her father is the Jamaican poet and screenwriter Evan Jones, and her mother was an actress. As her friends took up their various university places, Sadie worked in a variety of jobs. After travelling, she settled in London and spent several years as a screenwriter, before writing her first novel, The Outcast. Sadie is married and has two children.

Exclusive Amazon.co.uk Interview with Sadie Jones

What is The Outcast about?

The Outcast is about a boy called Lewis - his childhood and adolescence - as he grows up in the stultifying world of the home counties in the late forties and fifties. It is an everyday tale of drunkenness, violence and a fair amount of sex, set amongst the well-brought-up professional classes. It is also a love story.

What inspired you to write it?

The idea of a boy coming out of prison and trying to fit into a community that is itself corrupt was the first thing that came to me. I wanted to write an Oedipal story, with iconic characters, about what the nature of what it is to belong, and injustice. I set it in the fifties because I have always been very attracted to the books and films of that time.

Who are your literary influences?

It's difficult to think in terms of being influenced, because when you write you try to find your own voice and forget those of other writers, but I must in some way be a product of books I've loved. My favourite writers are Hemingway, Capote, Salinger, McEwan and Dostoyevsky.

If you could recommend just one "must-read book" to anyone, what would it be and why?

It would be The Brothers Karamazov, by Dostoyevsky, because it is a book that tells a riveting story and is profoundly insightful about human nature. Dostoyevsky has an undeserved reputation of being sort of turgid, but nothing could be further from the truth of this book. He relishes the events he discloses and has no prissiness - he gets in the mud with his characters.

What top tips do you have for anyone looking to write their first book?

It's very hard; I only know what works for me, which is planning, structure and hard work. I have found that whenever I write thinking I'll sort some lingering doubt out later, I generally run into trouble. If you can't answer every single question about your story, then people will be able to tell. Also, try not to get too tied up in whether or not it's any good, or what will happen to it when it's finished - all of that can be paralysing.

Reviews for The Outcast

An assured voice, a riveting story, and an odd, wrenchingly sympathetic protagonist. I would never have imagined this was a first novel. Lionel Shriver

In the tradition of ATONEMENT and REMAINS OF THE DAY but in her own singularly arresting voice, Sadie Jones conjures up the straight-laced, church-going, secretly abusive middle class of 1950s England. The Outcast is a passionate and deeply suspenseful novel about what happens to those who break the rules, and what happens to those who keep them. I loved reading this wonderful debut. Margot Livesey

I much admired The Outcast. Sadie Jones tells her story using minute details to convey the apparent ordinariness of her characters' lives. But from the choreography of these walking, smiling, drinking people, from their emotional repression and their children's deprivation, she conjures an atmosphere of menace and suspense that erupts into violence and tragedy. It is an impressive debut for this talented new novelist. Michael Holroyd

Sadie Jones is an important new voice. She writes in beautiful prose of terrible events, demonstrating how love denied brings brutal consequences. She conjures the repressive social climate of the 1950s with awful accuracy, and explores the hearts and minds of young people with forensic skill. A great stylist and fine storyteller. Joan Bakewell

One of Radio 4's Book at Bedtime reads for February, Jones' story is imbued with brooding atmosphere and drama. Understated and elegantly narrated with attention to period detail, this is a gripping love story with a twist. If you liked Atonement by Ian McEwan, you'll love this. Harper's Bazaar (Feb issue)

A wonderfully assured first novel. Guardian

The prose is elegant and spare, but the story it reveals is raw and explosive… Devastatingly good. Daily Mail

The Outcast grips from page one… Jones has captured the stultifying morals and mores of Fifties English middle-class life with satisfying accuracy. Publishing News

Set in post WWII suburban London, this superb debut novel charts the downward spiral and tortured redemption of a young man shattered by loss. The war is over, and Lewis Aldridge is getting used to having his father, Gilbert, back in the house. Things hum along splendidly until Lewis's mother drowns, casting the 10-year-old into deep isolation…Jones's prose is fluid, and Lewis's suffering comes across as achingly real. Publishers Weekly

A confident, suspenseful and affecting first novel, delivered in cool, precise, distinctive prose. Kirkus

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Much better than I expected - Rated
I read this rather reluctantly after hearing so many rave reviews I decided to see what the fuss was about. I must admit to having snobbishly turned my nose up when I saw the 'Richard and Judy summer read' sticker on the front, having not enjoyed several other books awarded that title.

But I'm glad I overcame that prejudice because this is actually a really good book. It's readable and although it doesn't grip you straight away, it soon warms up. The atmosphere of a frustratingly hypocritical and staid postwar village is conjured up in full technicolour, and the sense of injustice so strongly evoked that I could hardly bring myself to turn the pages at times.

The principle characters, Lewis and Kit, are well drawn and are supported by equally believable supporting characters. Their stories show how children can be badly affected by a lack of understanding and sympathy, and though their treatment would be condemned by modern society, is perfectly plausible in the 1950s setting.

I found the motivations of some of the characters' actions rather hard to fathom - for example Tamsin, Claire and Alice - but on the whole it was remarkably plausible. The writing is consistently good, and while I would stop short of calling it a great book, it is certainly a strong first attempt and bodes well for the author's later works.

Beautifully written, a excellent read - Rated
I got this book to read while on holiday and i have to say that i had it read within the first to days. I couldnt put it down! from the first page i was desperate to find out what happened to Lewis.

Lewis, the main character, is not the average hero of a novel as he is difficult to like and is troubled but when you start reading about his life and what he goes through you cannot help but feel symptathy for him. His hopeless father and his step mother who tried far to hard. While this is a very disturbing read as all of the characters have their own troubles in the book, the story captivates the reader and dosent let go until well after the last page has been read.

i strongly recommend this read, it is uplifting and makes people believe that love can win through even the most difficult of times. I eagerly await Sadie Jones's next novel.

depressing drivel - Rated
If you ever feel you are too happy this is the book for you! Badly written two-dimensional stereotypical characters in a totally depressing story. Do not recommend at all

Wonderful - Rated
This is a book that breaks your heart and makes you ache for Lewis. The writing is perfect, as restrained as the decade in which its set, and yet it keeps you turning the pages rather than wallowing.

The characters are all beautifully drawn, the love story delicate and touching, and while not wanting to spoil the ending I can say that it is ultimately uplifting.

It's a book that lives on long after you've finished reading.

Highly recommended.

Excellent read - a dark and well written story which draws the reader in and keeps them there ! - Rated
I loved this book which held my attention throughout. The dark and riveting story line set in the 1950's, plus the author's superb descriptive writing made it compelling. Being a child of the 50's myself I was astonished how the author who was born in 1967 could capture so accurately the "stiff upper lip" and "children should be seen and not heard" atmosphere which prevailed then together with other details from the era. The author held the suspense throughout the book and you never knew quite what was going to happen next. A remarkable book and one I will remember.