WINNER OF THE WHITBREAD PRIZE FOR FICTION 1996
WINNER OF THE COMMONWEALTH WRITERS' PRIZE 1997

'A narrative both sparkling and deep . . . the cost of raising [the Titanic] is prohibitive; Bainbridge does the next best thing' Hilary Mantel

'Brilliant . . . do not miss this novel' Daily Telegraph

'A moving, microcosmic portrait of an era's bitter end' The Times

For the four fraught, mysterious days of her doomed maiden voyage in 1912, the Titanic sails towards New York, glittering with luxury, freighted with millionaires and hopefuls. In her labyrinthine passageways the last, secret hours of a small group of passengers are played out, their fate sealed in prose of startling, sublime beauty, as Beryl Bainbridge's haunting masterpiece moves inexorably to its known and terrible end.

Prizes

Winner of The Commonwealth Writer's Prize Best Book Eurasia 1997,Winner of Whitbread Book Awards: Novel Category 1996,Short-listed for Booker Prize for Fiction 1996

A narrative both sparkling and deep . . . the cost of raising [the Titanic] is prohibitive; Bainbridge does the next best thing -- Hilary Mantel
Beryl Bainbridge's masterly vision of the Titanic's voyage, Every Man for Himself, which won the Whitbread and was a finalist for the Booker Prize in 1996 . . . Bainbridge's ability to distill, and almost disguise, major ideas in brisk and seamless prose allows her to tell the story of the Titanic in fewer than two hundred pages * New Yorker *
The novel swiftly takes us back to the beginning of the Titanic's first and last trans-Atlantic cruise, so immersing us in the rarefied world of the first-class passengers - their mix of uncommon sensitivity and appalling snobbishness - that we come to know them very well . . . the real story is the impending, irrevocable fate that awaits so many of the passengers . . . It is difficult to imagine a more engrossing account of the famous shipwreck than this one * New York Times *
Extraordinary . . . a wholly new and highly individual work of art . . . beautifully written * Independent *
Bainbridge's masterpiece * Evening Standard *
Marvellous . . . exquisite pacing . . . stunning descriptions * Independent on Sunday *
A meticulously observed account that almost offhandedly convinces the reader that this is exactly what it must have been like aboard the doomed line . . . In a few deft strokes Bainbridge shows the gulf between the steerage passengers and the "nobs" while communicating the alternating servility and resentment of the crew. The book is nearly over before disaster strikes, but once again, the unnerving details seem just right: the careless self-confidence at the beginning, the gallantry quickly eroding to panic. Bainbridge's swift, economical novels tell us more about an era and the ways in which its people inhabit it than volumes of social history * Publishers Weekly *
A narrative both sparkling and deep... the cost of raising [the Titanic] is prohibitive; Bainbridge does the next best thing * Hilary Mantel *
Beryl Bainbridge's masterly vision of the Titanic's voyage, Every Man for Himself, which won the Whitbread and was a finalist for the Booker Prize in 1996....Bainbridge's ability to distill, and almost disguise, major ideas in brisk and seamless prose allows her to tell the story of the Titanic in fewer than two hundred pages * New Yorker *
The novel swiftly takes us back to the beginning of the Titanic's first and last trans-Atlantic cruise, so immersing us in the rarefied world of the first-class passengers -- their mix of uncommon sensitivity and appalling snobbishness -- that we come to know them very well... the real story is the impending, irrevocable fate that awaits so many of the passengers...It is difficult to imagine a more engrossing account of the famous shipwreck than this one * New York Times *
Extraordinary... a wholly new and highly individual work of art... beautifully written * Independent *
Bainbridge's masterpiece * Evening Standard *
Marvellous... exquisite pacing... stunning descriptions * Independent on Sunday *
A meticulously observed account that almost offhandedly convinces the reader that this is exactly what it must have been like aboard the doomed line...In a few deft strokes Bainbridge shows the gulf between the steerage passengers and the "nobs" while communicating the alternating servility and resentment of the crew. The book is nearly over before disaster strikes, but once again, the unnerving details seem just right: the careless self-confidence at the beginning, the gallantry quickly eroding to panic. Bainbridge's swift, economical novels tell us more about an era and the ways in which its people inhabit it than volumes of social history * Publishers Weekly *
Extraordinary... a wholly new and highly individual work of art... beautifully written * INDEPENDENT *
Marvellous... exquisite pacing... stunning descriptions * INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY *
A narrative both sparkling and deep... the cost of raising [the Titanic] is prohibitive; Bainbridge does the next best thing * SUNDAY TIMES *
Bainbridge's masterpiece * EVENING STANDARD *

Beryl Bainbridge is the author of seventeen novels, two travel books and five plays for stage and television. The Dressmaker, The Bottle Factory Outing, An Awfully Big Adventure, Every Man for Himself and Master Georgie (which won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize) were all shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and Every Man for Himself was awarded the Whitbread Novel of the Year Prize. She won the Guardian Fiction Prize with The Dressmaker and the Whitbread Prize with Injury Time. The Bottle Factory Outing, Sweet William and The Dressmaker have all been adapted for film, as was An Awfully Big Adventure, which starred Hugh Grant and Alan Rickman. Beryl Bainbridge died in July 2010. Amanda Craig is a British novelist, short-story writer and critic. After a brief time in advertising and PR, she became a journalist for newspapers such as the Sunday Times, Observer, Daily Telegraph and Independent, winning both the Young Journalist of the Year and the Catherine Pakenham Award. Her novels Hearts and Minds and The Golden Rule were both longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction and The Lie of the Land was chosen as book of the year by the Guardian, Observer, Telegraph, New Statesman, Evening Standard, Sunday Times and Irish Times.