R. C. Sherriff – författare

The funny and moving story of the apocalypse - as seen from one small village in England'I loved this book, by turns funny and tragic ... It moves between abject despair and good old-fashioned British stoicism with ease. Magical' Jeff Noon, Spectator, Books of the Year 2018Retired teacher Edgar Hopkins lives for the thrill of winning poultry prizes. But his narrow world is shattered when he learns that the moon is about to come crashing into the earth, with apocalyptic consequences. The manuscript he leaves behind will be a testament - to his growing humanity and to how one English village tried to survive the end of the world... Written in 1939 as the world was teetering on the brink of global war, R. C. Sherriff's tragicomic novel is a masterly work of science fiction, and a powerful warning from the past.'Spectacular, skilled and moving. It is supremely and alarmingly relevant' Fay Weldon'Intensely readable and touching' Sunday Telegraph

Hailed by George Bernard Shaw as 'useful [corrective] to the romantic conception of war', R.C. Sherriff's Journey's End is an unflinching vision of life in the trenches towards the end of the First World War, published in Penguin Classics.Set in the First World War, Journey's End concerns a group of British officers on the front line and opens in a dugout in the trenches in France. Raleigh, a new eighteen-year-old officer fresh out of English public school, joins the besieged company of his friend and cricketing hero Stanhope, and finds him dramatically changed. Laurence Olivier starred as Stanhope in the first performance of Journey's End in 1928; the play was an instant stage success and remains a remarkable anti-war classic.R.C. Sherriff (1896-1975) joined the army shortly after the outbreak of the First World War, serving as a captain in the East Surrey regiment. After the war, an interest in amateur theatricals led him to try his hand at writing. Following rejection by many theatre managements, Journey's End was given a single performance by the Incorporated Stage Society, in which Lawrence Olivier took the lead role. The play's enormous success enabled Sherriff to become a full-time writer, with plays such as Badger's Green (1930), St Helena (1935), and The Long Sunset (1955); though he is also remembered as a screenplay writer, for films such as The Invisible Man (1933), Goodbye Mr Chips (1933) and The Dam Busters (1955).If you enjoyed Journey's End, you might like Robert Graves's Goodbye to All That, available in Penguin Modern Classics.'Its unrelenting tension, and its regard for human decency in a vast world of human waste, are impressive and, even now, moving'Clive Barnes

Set in the First World War, Journey's End concerns a group of British officers on the front line and opens in a dugout in the trenches in France. Raleigh, a new eighteen-year-old officer fresh out of English public school, joins the besieged company of his friend and cricketing hero Stanhope, and finds him dramatically changed ...Laurence Olivier starred as Stanhope in the first performance of Journey's End in 1928; the play was an instant stage success and remains a remarkable anti-war classic.

The funny and moving story of the apocalypse - as seen from one small village in England'I loved this book, by turns funny and tragic ... It moves between abject despair and good old-fashioned British stoicism with ease. Magical' Jeff Noon, Spectator, Books of the Year 2018Retired teacher Edgar Hopkins lives for the thrill of winning poultry prizes. But his narrow world is shattered when he learns that the moon is about to come crashing into the earth, with apocalyptic consequences. The manuscript he leaves behind will be a testament - to his growing humanity and to how one English village tried to survive the end of the world... Written in 1939 as the world was teetering on the brink of global war, R. C. Sherriff's tragicomic novel is a masterly work of science fiction, and a powerful warning from the past.'Spectacular, skilled and moving. It is supremely and alarmingly relevant' Fay Weldon'Intensely readable and touching' Sunday Telegraph

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From the writer of Journey's End, now a major motion picture starring Paul Bettany, Sam Claflin and Asa Butterfield.Roger Matthews is the Vicar of picturesque village, Little Stanton. He happily tends to his friendly flock and is almost ready to retire but his spirit is restless . . . Roger is pulled towards the slums of London, determined to help the poor and depraved, and arrives in fog-drenched Woodbank. But the people are as unfriendly as the weather, greeting him with slammed doors and suspicious eyes. After months of being ignored, a chance drunken encounter and an abandoned Boat House finally offer hope.

From the writer of Journey's End, now a major motion picture starring Paul Bettany, Sam Claflin and Asa Butterfield.Roger Matthews is the Vicar of picturesque village, Little Stanton. He happily tends to his friendly flock and is almost ready to retire but his spirit is restless . . . Roger is pulled towards the slums of London, determined to help the poor and depraved, and arrives in fog-drenched Woodbank. But the people are as unfriendly as the weather, greeting him with slammed doors and suspicious eyes. After months of being ignored, a chance drunken encounter and an abandoned Boat House finally offer hope.

From the writer of Journey's End, now a major motion picture starring Paul Bettany, Sam Claflin and Asa Butterfield.The trouble began when Lord Colindale, millionaire newspaper-owner and ‘strong man’ of British politics, came down for a week-end to Colonel Joyce’s country house. For a year Colindale had been forced out of public life by crippling rheumatism which neither the specialists nor the watering-places of Europe had been able to alleviate. By chance they had visited the Wells of St Mary’s , once famed for their cures, now derelict on Joyce’s land. At Henry Hodder’s insistence Lord Colindale had drunk the flat, metallic water.When it was announced in the newspapers that Colindale had been cured by the waters and Colonel Joyce had given the well to the town, there was no limit to the exploitation which the people, under Jim Blundell the mayor, could envisage. But Henry, who had come to regard the well as his own, knew the secret of its healing power. All set to put money in his purse, he waited until the Casino was half-built before demanding his share of the profits – as the price of silence.

From the writer of Journey's End, now a major motion picture starring Paul Bettany, Sam Claflin and Asa Butterfield.Lord Swayne owned a well-protected castle on a particularly strategic stretch of the English coast. A powerful Earl with estates nearby coveted the castle and its surrounding land. Under the guise of protecting King John from treachery, he declared his intention of ‘smashing the castle to the ground, hanging the garrison amidst its ruins and wiping the pestilent Swaynes off the face of the earth’. Lord Swayne had some advantages however, one of which was that he held the Earl’s son, Gregory, captive.This is a fascinating account of a medieval siege. It is also the story of the growing friendship between two boys, Lord Swayne’s son Roger, and his prisoner, Gregory.‘The techniques and tragedies of medieval siege can seldom have been described in such a clear-cut, practical way; this exciting one-thing-after-another tale should be spread very widely among history-lovers and also those who have scant interest in the past.’ Sunday Times

From the writer of Journey's End, now a major motion picture starring Paul Bettany, Sam Claflin and Asa Butterfield.Lord Swayne owned a well-protected castle on a particularly strategic stretch of the English coast. A powerful Earl with estates nearby coveted the castle and its surrounding land. Under the guise of protecting King John from treachery, he declared his intention of ‘smashing the castle to the ground, hanging the garrison amidst its ruins and wiping the pestilent Swaynes off the face of the earth’. Lord Swayne had some advantages however, one of which was that he held the Earl’s son, Gregory, captive.This is a fascinating account of a medieval siege. It is also the story of the growing friendship between two boys, Lord Swayne’s son Roger, and his prisoner, Gregory.‘The techniques and tragedies of medieval siege can seldom have been described in such a clear-cut, practical way; this exciting one-thing-after-another tale should be spread very widely among history-lovers and also those who have scant interest in the past.’ Sunday Times

Voller Vorfreude bricht die Familie Stevens an die englische Südküste auf, mit sorgsam gepacktem Koffer und diesem wunderbar freien Gefühl im Bauch, wenn der Urlaub beginnt. Die geliebte Pension ist ein wenig in die Jahre gekommen, aber irgendetwas sagt Mr Stevens, dass diese Ferien die schönsten werden, die sie je hatten. Und so lassen sie sich verführen: vom Geflatter des Drachens und Cricket im warmen Sand, von einem behaglichen Glas Port und der erleuchteten Promenade am Abend. Und jeden Tag wieder lockt das Meer, das so sehr glitzert, dass man es vor Glück kaum fassen kann. Die Familie Stevens besitzt die Fähigkeit, das Dunklere, das jeder in sich trägt, zu verwandeln und die verborgene Größe des Selbstverständlichen zu genießen. Sie nimmt uns mit in einen unvergesslichen Sommer.