Morality Play

“A bravura performance … A thought-provoking comedy on the eternal sameness of disaster and the recurrent uses we put it to in art.” —The New York Times Book Review

“Brilliantly imagined… . A dramatic meditation on the relationship between life and play.” —San Francisco Chronicle

“A historical novelist of rare talent… . A spare and disquieting tale.” —The Boston Globe

“A book of subtlety, compassion, and skill… . Confirms Barry Unsworth’s position as a master craftsman of contemporary British fiction.” —Los Angeles Times

“A learned, witty, satisfying entertainment.” —The New York Times

“Works brilliantly… . A dark and suspenseful murder mystery; and a provocative meditation on the birth of a new art form.” —Chicago Tribune

“An absorbing mix of historical fiction and whodunit, the novel abounds in vivid, seamlessly integrated details of fourteenth-century life.” —The Wall Street Journal

“An entertaining, thought-provoking work of remarkable scope and detail.” —Houston Chronicle
“A gem… . Morality Play resonates with meaning for our own time.” —Newsday

Barry Unsworth was born in 1930 and grew up in a mining town in northeast England. Descended from a long line of coal miners, he was the first Unsworth to escape the mines. He attended Manchester University and published his first novel, The Partnership, in 1966. He is the author of seventeen books, including The Ruby in Her Navel, longlisted for the Booker Prize; Pascali’s Island and Morality Play, both shortlisted for the Booker; and Sacred Hunger, co-winner of the Booker Prize. He died in 2012 at the age of eighty-one.

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