An Awfully Big Adventure by Beryl Bainbridge

I was drawn to this book by the title, which is taken from one of my favourite plays, J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan, in which Peter says that he does not fear death because to die would be ‘an awfully big adventure.’ The story revolves around Stella, a young trainee taken on at a Liverpool theatre which is staging, among other productions – yes, you guessed it! – Peter Pan. One review on the cover states that this is ‘Vintage bittersweet Bainbridge’. Bittersweet is certainly a good description. Bainbridge does not spare the punches; her work is gritty and often brutal. She’s razor-sharp. There is humour, but don’t look for any happy endings. A very interesting insight into life in a rep theatre in the 1950s.