Knowing French (Storycuts)
Nov 2011 · Random House
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About this ebook
Sylvia Winstanley, the youngest and most competent resident in a home for the elderly and self-labelled maverick, begins a written correspondence with the author of Flaubert's Parrot. We are treated to one half of the confused and hilarious dialogue between the two. Sylvia's bout of 'epistolomania' offers a charming perspective on growing old, and the associated difficulty of continuing to look forward rather than back.
Part of the Storycuts series, this short story was previously published in the collection The Lemon Table.
Sylvia Winstanley, the youngest and most competent resident in a home for the elderly and self-labelled maverick, begins a written correspondence with the author of Flaubert's Parrot. We are treated to one half of the confused and hilarious dialogue between the two. Sylvia's bout of 'epistolomani...
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1 review
JULIE HOCK
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September 15, 2026
as I am 84 and also query the meaning of Life this book resonated with me. I am also a bit cantankerous.
About the author
Julian Barnes is the author of fourteen novels, including The Sense of an Ending, which won the 2011 Booker Prize, and Sunday Times bestsellers The Noise of Time and The Only Story. He has also written three books of short stories, four collections of essays and five works of non-fiction, including Nothing to Be Frightened Of and the Sunday Times number one bestseller Levels of Life. He was awarded the David Cohen Prize for lifetime contribution to literature in 2011, the Légion d’honneur in 2017, and the Princess of Asturias Award for Literature in 2026.
Julian Barnes is the author of fourteen novels, including The Sense of an Ending, which won the 2011 Booker Prize, and Sunday Times bestsellers The Noise of Time and The Only Story. He has also written three books of short stories, four collections of essays and five works of non-fiction, includi...
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