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Paul Bailey, who died in October aged 87, was celebrated for possessing a comic brilliance, intense sympathy extending to the worst personalities in his stories, and an intelligence that was never clinical. His literary works frequently delved into the role of remembrance in shaping lives, driven by clever, syncopated conversations. In addition to storytelling, he also excelled as a memoirist, poet, and more—this is an overview to the books he left behind.

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The Ones to Keep You Company

The author appeared as a social being, a skilled communicator fond of casual small talk, as one character notes. He and friend Beryl Bainbridge used to view the serial drama Coronation Street and analyze it telephonically. This enjoyment of informal dialogues is evident in his fictional works the novel Trespasses (from 1970) along with Peter Smart’s Confessions (1977). Both feature a leading man besieged by comic, maddening, theatrical individuals, usually kin whose impact cannot be avoided. “Why would anyone desire normality?” queries Ralph’s mother within Trespasses after he discloses his homosexuality. Like an evening with your wittiest, boldest friend.

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Works That Evoke Laughter and Tears

Paul Bailey authored brilliantly about aging, early and late in his career. His initial fiction the novel At the Jerusalem (1967) follows the life of Faith Gadny as she adjusts to a nursing home, where other occupants supply compassion absent in employees, whose concern through questions “Why aren’t you ladies watching the television?”. In his penultimate novel Chapman’s Odyssey (2011), a senior in hospital switches between disputing with medics (“My wine selection is exclusive”, he insists after reprimands over liver tests) and experiencing a rush of recollections from his parent, romances, fictional icons such as Pip from Dickens or Emma from Austen. The two works are filled with comic interactions however tinged with impending endings. Throughout his novels, smiles are deceptive. Within At the Jerusalem, “the matron grinned, then ended it abruptly”; Faith Gadny chuckles anxiously if her actions are questioned. In that novel, Harry advises that “my smiles aren’t what they seem”. Your laughter, nonetheless, is sincere.

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To Understand the Truth Beneath the Tales

In addition to fiction, Paul Bailey served as a talented life writer, releasing two self-written volumes. An Immaculate Mistake (1990) is a masterwork of recollection, its title derived from his mum’s statement that “You were our mistake. You ought not to be here, by rights.”. (“Aged, she was releasing her confidences,” he notes. “This one, she knew, would be of particular interest to me.”) This book reveals the origins for confused, affectionate, irritating parental figures in his novels. Additionally, it depicts an evocative portrait of a boy discovering his sexuality during the mid-20th century, when same-sex acts were criminal, and his family found it odd for a boy to buy his mother flowers; and of an aspiring actor (Paul Bailey performed before writing) who could recite Hamlet as a teen. His follow-up autobiography A Dog’s Life (2004) focuses on life with his mongrel puppy Circe, his former partner David, his love for Romania—that influenced future works including the novel Kitty and Virgil, Uncle Rudolf, as well as The Prince’s Boy—and plenty of gossip, with a story regarding Iris Murdoch labeling a listener a “stupid cow”.

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If You’re Pressed for Time

Paul Bailey’s books are generally brief—the powerful Old Soldiers (published in 1980) is just over 100 pages—but for something shorter, explore his poems from later years. The pair of volumes Inheritance (published in 2019) and the title Joie de Vivre (2022) display Bailey’s wit, empathy, precision in condensed form. These poems are full of endings and beginnings. Two affectionate topics reappear: regarding his mum (“I feel nearer to you now—/ I must confess—/ than when you lived”) and for his civil partner Jeremy Trevathan. In that piece, he describes the joy of “watching an idiotic TV entertainment” together, concluding with: “It’s amazing, somehow, to eat cheese and sip wine while the world darkens.”

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For a Single Must-Read

Most agree that the author’s most expansive book is the novel Gabriel’s Lament, shortlisted for the Booker prize in 1986. (He was a Booker judge in 1982, a task he hated.) This was the book Bailey felt proudest of, although “it consumed all his energy”. It tells the narrative of Gabriel Harvey, whose mum disappears and whose father turns into an insufferable elitist after inheriting wealth, and the events may link. It’s a depiction of 20th-century London, a tale of emotional unraveling, and as funny and sad like his other works. For more, it inspired a follow-up, Sugar Cane (1993), which Bailey researched by going to such places to watch.