Stephen Benatar was born in 1937 in Baker Street, London—and in the
block of flats where H. G. Wells and Arnold Bennett once lived; one
of these days there’ll have to be a third important plaque beside
the other two! Benatar is married, with four children, but now
openly gay and living with a male partner.
“Particularly welcome . . . Funny, outrageous and
unpatronizing . . . a cunning, convincing novel that,
dealing primarily with the past, manages to be more up-to-date in
its observations than the majority of contemporary satires.”
—The Scotsman
“This book is remarkably convincing . . . One’s first
reaction on finishing the novel is ‘Goodness, how sad!’ One’s
second is ‘Goodness, how funny!’ —Francis King, The
Spectator
“Benatar writes with wit and humour about subjects most writers do
not tackle—ageing, age, the frequent nastiness of family life.”
—Doris Lessing
“An intriguing, funny, sometimes exciting and, finally, sad story;
the elegant idiosyncrasy of the author’s viewpoint, which
made Wish Her Safe At Home so enjoyably inventive without
discarding a carefully controlled narrative, here creates a moving
story from what might at first appear to be the elements of a black
farce.” —Christopher Hawtree, The Literary Review
“Arnold Bennett, reflecting with satisfaction on the ability of his
novel, The Old Wives’ Tale, to give an authentic sense of the
passage of time, once observed complacently that ‘it isn’t in many
books that you can see people growing old.’ Much to its
credit, When I Was Otherwise is such a book.” —Peter
Kemp, The Times Literary Supplement
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