Every Man For Himself

Description

After taking on the ill-fated Scott expedition to the South Pole in her previous book, The Birthday Boys, the novelist tackles a much larger 1912 disaster: the sinking of the Titanic. The narrator, a 22-year-old named Morgan, brushes up against real-life victims such as John James Astor early in the voyage, while falling in love with the beautiful and unobtainable Wallis Ellery. The deadly maiden voyage of the world’s largest ocean liner becomes a journey of self-discovery in this portentous, postmodern work, short-listed for the 1996 Booker Prize.

Review

A narrative both sparkling and deep . . . the cost of raising [the Titanic] is prohibitive; Bainbridge does the next best thing — Hilary Mantel

Beryl Bainbridge’s masterly vision of the Titanic’s voyage, Every Man for Himself, which won the Whitbread and was a finalist for the Booker Prize in 1996 . . . Bainbridge’s ability to distill, and almost disguise, major ideas in brisk and seamless prose allows her to tell the story of the Titanic in fewer than two hundred pages ― New Yorker

The novel swiftly takes us back to the beginning of the Titanic’s first and last trans-Atlantic cruise, so immersing us in the rarefied world of the first-class passengers – their mix of uncommon sensitivity and appalling snobbishness – that we come to know them very well . . . the real story is the impending, irrevocable fate that awaits so many of the passengers . . . It is difficult to imagine a more engrossing account of the famous shipwreck than this one ― New York Times

Extraordinary . . . a wholly new and highly individual work of art . . . beautifully written ― Independent

Bainbridge’s masterpiece ― Evening Standard

Marvellous . . . exquisite pacing . . . stunning descriptions ― Independent on Sunday

A meticulously observed account that almost offhandedly convinces the reader that this is exactly what it must have been like aboard the doomed line . . . In a few deft strokes, Bainbridge shows the gulf between the steerage passengers and the “nobs” while communicating the alternating servility and resentment of the crew. The book is nearly over before disaster strikes, but once again, the unnerving details seem just right: the careless self-confidence at the beginning, the gallantry quickly eroding to panic. Bainbridge’s swift, economical novels tell us more about an era and the ways in which its people inhabit it than volumes of social history ― Publishers Weekly

‘Brilliant . . . do not miss this novel’ — Victoria Glendinning, Daily Telegraph

‘A moving, microcosmic portrait of an era’s bitter end’ — Erica Wagner, The Times

‘Marvellous . . . exquisite pacing . . . stunning descriptions’ Independent on Sunday

‘Darkly Brilliant . . . a rare and remarkable novel’ — Observer

WINNER OF THE WHITBREAD PRIZE FOR FICTION 1996
WINNER OF THE COMMONWEALTH WRITERS’ PRIZE 1997