The L-Shaped Room

Tender and compulsive, the bestselling novel which became a famous film'Lynne Reid Banks' compassionate first novel examines the stigma of unmarried motherhood in pre-pill, pre-Abortion Act Britain... While the social climate has changed drastically since publication, a transgressive frisson still crackles from the pages'The GuardianPregnant by accident, kicked out of home by her father, 27-year-old Jane Graham goes to ground in the sort of place she feels she deserves - a bug-ridden boarding-house attic in Fulham. She thinks she wants to hide from the world, but finds out that even at the bottom of the heap, friends and love can still be found, and self-respect is still worth fighting for.

“Jane's struggle to cope is a journey of self-discovery and independence...a wistful and haunting period piece”

The Times
This was the first grown-up book I read apart from the dirty bits in The Carpet Baggers and every 14-year-old should be made to read it. It tackles the lot; loneliness, race, sex and growing up. I never read books twice but I feel like tracking this one down again. -- Jenny Eclair Daily Express
Unflinching in its boarding-house detail, and strikingly modern in its fury at the "social conditioning" that made its heroine an outcast; it shocked and sold. The Independent
Written in pre-Pill days when motherhood really was a fate worse than death, the shame and tension in Reid Bank's ground-breaking novel may seem incomprehensible to today's sexually active youngsters -- Val Hennessy Daily Mail

Lynne Reid Banks has written a number of books for children and young adults. Her children's books include The Adventures of King Midas; The Farthest-Away Mountain; Maura's Angel; The Indian in the Cupboard, recently made into a major Hollywood film; Return of the Indian; The Fairy Rebel; and The Magic Hare. Her books for teenagers include One More River, Sarah and After, My Darling Villain, The Writing on the Wall, Melusine- A Mystery and Broken Bridge. In addition, she has written two historical books about Israel- Letters to My Israeli Sons and Torn Country.

'Lynne Reid Banks' compassionate first novel examines the stigma of unmarried motherhood in pre-pill, pre-abortion Act Britain... While the social climate has changed drastically since publication, a transgressive frisson still crackles from the pages' The Guardian Pregnant by accident, kicked out of home by her father, 27-year-old Jane Graham goes to ground in the sort of place she feels she deserves - a bug-ridden boarding-house attic in Fulham. She thinks she wants to hide from the world, but finds out that even at the bottom of the heap, friends and love can still be found, and self-respect is still worth fighting for.

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