Harriet Said...
| Harriet Said... | |
|---|---|
 First edition (UK) | |
| Author | Beryl Bainbridge |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Publisher |
Duckworth (UK) George Braziller (US) |
Publication date | 1972 (UK), 1973 (US) |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 152 |
| ISBN | 0-7156-0657-3 |
| OCLC | 632645 |
| Dewey Decimal | 823/.9/14 |
| LC Class | PZ4.B162 Har PR6052.A3195 |
Harriet Said... was the first novel written by Beryl Bainbridge, based on the Parker–Hulme murder case.[1]
Although completed in 1958[2] it was rejected by several publishers in the late fifties, one of whom wrote on the flyleaf of a first edition:
- what repulsive little creatures you have made the two central characters, repulsive almost beyond belief! And I think the scene in which the two men and the two girls meet in the Tsar's house is too indecent and unpleasant even for these lax days. What is more, I fear that even now a respectable printer would not print it!.
The manuscript was thought lost but was found by one publisher, returned to the author and finally published by Duckworth in 1972, and by George Braziller in the US the following year.
The plot was inspired by newspaper reports of a murder case involving two young girls in New Zealand.[3]
Plot introduction
It concerns two schoolgirls spending their holiday in an English coastal town. Harriet is the older at 14 and the leader of the two. The 13-year-old unnamed narrator develops a crush on an unhappily married middle-aged man, Peter Biggs, whom they nickname "the Tsar." Led by pretty, malevolent Harriet they study his relationship with his wife, planning to humiliate him. Their plan quickly goes wrong, however, with horrifying results.
References
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