Jill

A coming-of-age classic by the 'best-loved English poet of the past 100 years. (Sunday Times) published to celebrate Larkin's centenary.

Jill is Philip Larkin's first novel, originally published in 1946. A subtle and moving account of a young English undergraduate from the provinces, this portrait of Oxford during the war is now regarded by many critics as a classic of its kind.

Michaelmas term, 1940. 18-year-old John Kemp has come down from Lan-cashire to Oxford University to begin his scholarship studying English. But when he invents an imaginary sister to win the attention of a rich but unre-liable 'friend', and then falls in love for real, undergraduate life becomes its own strange world.

'Absolutely contemporary - perhaps even prophetic.' - Joyce Carol Oates

'Remarkable . A book about innocence.' - Simon Garfield

'A cryptic literary manifesto [about] discovering a literary personality, and the consolation art can provide.' - Andrew Motion

About the Author

Philip Larkin was born in Coventry in 1922 and was educated at King Henry VIII School, Coventry, and St John's College, Oxford. As well as his volumes of poems, which include The Whitsun Weddings and High Windows, he wrote two novels, Jill and A Girl in Winter, and two books of collected journalism: All What Jazz: A Record Library, and Required Writing: Miscellaneous Prose. He worked as a librarian at the University of Hull from 1955 until his death in 1985. He was the best-loved poet of his generation, and the recipient of innumerable honours, including the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry, and the WHSmith Award.