Inspired by the life of E.M. Forster and his relationship with his long-time companion Bob Buckingham and his wife, this is an exquisitely told, tragic tale of thwarted love 
It is in 1950s' Brighton that Marion first catches sight of Tom. He teaches her to swim in the shadow of the pier and Marion is smitten—determined her love will be enough for them both. A few years later in Brighton Museum Patrick meets Tom. Patrick is besotted with Tom and opens his eyes to a glamorous, sophisticated new world. Tom is their policeman, and in this age it is safer for him to marry Marion. The two lovers must share him, until one of them breaks and three lives are destroyed.

My Policeman

Literature & Fiction

Roberts, Bethan

Contemporary

Vintage, UK

A taut, powerful novel about a nanny who abducts the young child she looks after How does it feel to come home from work one evening and find your two-year-old son gone? How does it feel to steal another woman's child? To take a boy from his mother, and try to make him yours, make things right? This compelling, tense psychological drama is the story of two women, Nula and Maggie, joined by old family history and love for the same little boy. Perfect for fans of Maggie O'Farrell, Rose Tremain, Ian McEwan, and Rachel Cusk.

Mother Island

Literary

RANDOM HOUSE UK

Product Description 
Soon to be a motion picture starring Harry Styles, Emma Corrin, and David Dawson, an exquisitely told, tragic tale of thwarted love.“Stunning…fraught and honest.” —New York Times Book Review\nIt is in 1950's Brighton that Marion first catches sight of Tom. He teaches her to swim, gently guiding her through the water in the shadow of the city's famous pier and Marion is smitten—determined her love alone will be enough for them both. A few years later near the Brighton Museum, Patrick meets Tom. Patrick is besotted, and opens Tom's eyes to a glamorous, sophisticated new world of art, travel, and beauty. Tom is their policeman, and in this age it is safer for him to marry Marion and meet Patrick in secret. The two lovers must share him, until one of them breaks and three lives are destroyed.\nIn this evocative portrait of midcentury England, Bethan Roberts reimagines the real life relationship the novelist E. M. Forster had with a policeman, Bob Buckingham, and his wife. 
My Policeman is a deeply heartfelt story of love's passionate endurance, and the devastation wrought by a repressive society. 
 Review 
An 
Irish Times Book of the Year\n“Stunning...overdue in becoming a sensation...Roberts’s messy collision of desires and drives leads to thwarted dreams, heartbreak, betrayal and a prison sentence. It’s a story as old as time, but, to my mind, it’s never been told so effectively, principally because Roberts invests us emotionally in both sides of the tug-of-war...It’s not a happy story. It’s better than that, fraught and honest.” — 
New York Times Book Review\n“Roberts beautifully captures the devastation of being unable or unwilling to live in one’s truth…A melancholy story about love, loss, and unnecessary suffering.” — 
Kirkus Reviews“Complex and nuanced exploration of a love triangle…a moving depiction of human passions, frailties, and struggles.” — 
Publisher's Weekly\n“A humane and evocative portrait of a time when lives were destroyed by intolerance.” — 
The 
Guardian\n“A moving story of longing and frustration.” — 
The Observer\n“Bethan Roberts is a fearless writer.” —Louise Welsh, author of 
The Cutting Room, on 
The Good Plain Cook 
 About the Author 
Bethan Roberts was born in Abingdon. Her first novel 
The Pools was published in 2007 and won a Jerwood/Arvon Young Writers' Award. Her second novel 
The Good Plain Cook, published in 2008, was serialized on BBC Radio 4's 
Book at Bedtime and was chosen as one of Time Out's books of the year. 
My Policeman was the 2012 Brighton City Read and an Irish Times Book of the Year. She also writes drama for BBC Radio 4. Bethan has worked in television, and has taught Creative Writing at Chichester University and Goldsmiths College, London. She lives in Brighton with her family. Her latest novel, 
Mother Island won a Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize 2015. 
 Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. 
Peacehaven, October 1999\nI considered starting with these words: I no longer want to kill you-because I really don't-but then decided you would think this far too melodramatic. You've always hated melodrama, and I don't want to upset you now, not in the state you're in, not at what may be the end of your life.\nWhat I mean to do is this: write it all down, so I can get it right. This is a confession of sorts, and it's worth getting the details correct. When I am finished, I plan to read this account to you, Patrick, because you can't answer back anymore. And I have been instructed to keep talking to you. Talking, the doctors say, is vital if you are to recover.\nYour speech is almost destroyed, and even though you are here in my house, we communicate on paper. When I say on paper, I mean pointing at flashcards. You can't articulate the words, but you can gesture toward your desires: drink, lavatory, sandwich. I know you want these things before your finger reaches the picture, but I let you point anyway, because it is better

My Policeman: A Novel

Penguin??Books

Now a motion picture starring Harry Styles, Emma Corrin, and David Dawson, an&nbsp;exquisitely told, tragic tale of thwarted love. "Stunning...fraught and honest." --New York Times Book Review It is in 1950's Brighton that Marion first catches sight of Tom. He teaches her to swim, gently guiding her through the water in the shadow of the city's famous pier and Marion is smitten--determined her love alone will be enough for them both. A few years later near the Brighton Museum, Patrick meets Tom. Patrick is besotted, and opens Tom's eyes to a glamorous, sophisticated new world of art, travel, and beauty. Tom is their policeman, and in this age it is safer for him to marry Marion and meet Patrick in secret. The two lovers must share him, until one of them breaks and three lives are destroyed. &nbsp; In this evocative portrait of midcentury England, Bethan Roberts reimagines the real life relationship the novelist E. M. Forster had with a policeman, Bob Buckingham, and his wife. My Policeman is a deeply heartfelt story of love's passionate endurance, and the devastation wrought by a repressive society.

My Policeman (Movie Tie-In): A Novel

An exquisitely told, tragic tale of thwarted love. From the moment Marion first lays eyes on Tom -- her best friend's big brother, broad, blond, blue-eyed -- she is smitten. And when he comes home from National Service to be a policeman, Marion, a newly qualified teacher, is determined to win him. Unable to acknowledge the signs that something is amiss, she plunges into marriage, sure that her love is enough for both of them. But Tom has another life, another equally overpowering claim on his affections. Patrick, a curator at the Brighton Museum, is also besotted with his policeman, and opens Tom's eyes to a world previously unknown to him. But in an age when those of 'minority status' were condemned by society and the law, it is safer for this policeman to marry his teacher. The two lovers must share him, until one of them breaks and three lives are destroyed. Unfolding through the dual narratives of Marion and Patrick, both writing about the man at t

Chatto&Windus

How does it feel to come home from work one evening and find your two-year-old son gone? How does it feel to steal another woman's child? To take a boy from his mother, and try to make him yours, make things right? This is the story of two women, Nula and Maggie, joined by old family history and love for the same little boy. This is a taut, powerful novel about a nanny who abducts the young child she looks after.

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Thrillers & Suspense

Charnwood

**NOW A MAJOR FILM STARRING HARRY STYLES** This love is all-consuming It is in 1950s' Brighton that Marion first catches sight of the handsome and enigmatic Tom. He teaches her to swim in the shadow of the pier and Marion is smitten - determined her love will be enough for them both. A few years later in Brighton Museum Patrick meets Tom. Patrick is besotted with Tom and opens his eyes to a glamorous, sophisticated new world. Tom is their policeman, and in this age it is safer for him to marry Marion. The two lovers must share him, until one of them breaks and three lives are destroyed.'A sensitive, sweeping novel' VOGUE'Tense, romantic, smart...I loved it. Devoured it!' RUSSELL T. DAVIES'A powerful story of forbidden love, regret, and living as your true self' VANITY FAIR'A moving story of longing and frustration' OBSERVER

My Policeman: NOW A MAJOR FILM STARRING HARRY STYLES

Vintage

Graceland

What happens when your only son becomes The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll?From the moment she first holds him, after his twin brother is stillborn, Gladys Presley loves her son Elvis ferociously. She will be his greatest influence, the love of his life. She will be the one by his side, when Elvis is a boy and his father is in the jailhouse; as the family move from place to place, skirting poverty in Tupelo, Mississippi; as Elvis’s obsession with music grows; as they move to Memphis and he begins his whirlwind rise to never-before-seen success… And he will love her back, even as his heart is turned by the blues, clothes and girls. But while he makes it big in Hollywood, brings audiences across the land to their knees and achieves unimagined wealth and fame, there is another story – of drinking and diet pills, loneliness and loss. While the heat and music of the American South in the 40s and 50s play in the background, a heartbreaking portrait of a mother’s love and a son’s devotion takes centre stage. When Elvis reaches the height of his power, he buys his family the ultimate mansion on the hill, Graceland, where he hopes his mother will be happy. The reality, though, is very different, and Elvis finds that even kings must go on alone.'Graceland is an astonishing literary achievement. Bethan Roberts somehow manages to unlock the mystery to that beautiful sadness in the voice of Elvis. Utterly heartbreaking.' Jake Arnott

Biographies & Memoirs

Arts & Literature

A melodious paean to the natural history and symbolic meaning of the most prized, poetized, and mythologized of songbirds.\nThe nightingale has a unique place in cultural history: the most prized of songbirds, it has inspired more poems than any other creature, and it is also the most mythologized of birds. Nightingale juxtaposes the bird of poetry, music, myth, and lore with the living bird of wood and scrubland, unpicking the entangled relationship between them. Covering a huge range of poets, musicians, artists, nature writers, and natural historians—from Aristotle, Keats, and Vera Lynn to Bob Dylan—Nightingale charts our fascination through history with this nondescript yet melodious little brown bird. It also documents the nightingale’s disappearance from British breeding grounds and the implications this has for nightingale conservation.

Nightingale (Animal)

Science & Math

Nature & Ecology

Reaktion Books

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Roberts, Bethan. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Roberts, Bethan

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Roberts, Bethan. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

My Policeman

Mother Island

My Policeman: A Novel

My Policeman (Movie Tie-In): A Novel

My Policeman

Mother Island

My Policeman

My Policeman: NOW A MAJOR FILM STARRING HARRY STYLES

Graceland

Nightingale (Animal)