Past Present Future

Fifteen Fictions for Summer re-release: The Line of Beauty

Listen on

Episode notes

Today’s Great Political Fiction is Alan Hollinghurst’s The Line of Beauty (2004), which is set between Thatcher’s two dominant general election victories of 1983 and 1987. A novel about the intersection between gay life and Tory life, high politics and low conduct, beauty and betrayal, it explores the price of power and the risks of liberation. It also contains perhaps the greatest of all fictional portrayals of a real-life prime minster: Thatcher dancing the night away.

Tomorrow: Curtis Sittingfield’s American Wife

Find out more about Past Present Future on our new website www.ppfideas.com where you can also join PPF+ to get bonus episodes and ad-free listening.

---

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.