RESULTS

Henry Freedman and Miriam Claret met on Petticoat Lane in February 1929, when he was 22 and she 18. He was a barrow boy, she a milliner's apprentice. Henry danced home that night, having fallen entirely in love. Their romance survived the opposition of her remarkable mother Leah, the challenge of proving that Leah - and therefore Miriam - really was Jewish, and the mysterious disappearance of Henry's beloved dog. What began as forays into the West End led - via Henry's successful underwear business, and a remarkable friendship with his upper class mentor Walter - to a life lived among Astors and Parker-Bowlses. Andrew Miller's compelling family history tells of London's many faces. It is a story of immigration and Anglicisation, of the significance of race and class and language and accent in our country, of how it has been possible for people in this country to change themselves and their lives.

1940. Tokyo. Japan is at war with China, and Yuji Takano is clinging to the life he has made for himself as a young poet - the company of his friends, the monthly meetings of the French Club at Monsieur Feneon's house, the days of writing and contemplation made possible by an allowance from his father, a professor at Tokyo's elite Imperial university... But the world is closing in on Yuji. His father is disgraced, the allowance is scrapped, and the threat of conscription is coming ever closer. And then there is Monsieur Feneon's 19-year-old daughter Alissa, a girl with her own very definite ideas of what she wants, and whose fate becomes inextricably bound up with Yuji's.

In a house in the English countryside a woman in her sixties, Alice, is dying. In the garden, her younger son is working on the translation of a play by a celebrated Hungarian playwright, Lazlo Lazar. In San Francisco, Alice's other son, a one-time soap actor and now heavily in debt, is on his way to a meeting with a pornographic film producer. And in Vienna, Lazlo Lazar is having supper with his lover, Kurt, and an American painter, discussing action, courage and the revolutions of 1956 and 1968. Each of these characters will soon face a test of courage. Each will be forced to take part in an act of liberation - though not necessarily the one they foresaw. The summer of 1997 reaches its surprising conclusion.

Management Teaching use: One of the facets of this novel is the way it explores two contrasting art forms: the 'high brow' theatre play and pornographic film. Clearly, the market for these two very dissimilar 'art' forms are poles apart. It is made explicit for instance that the pornographic film is to be exported to countries where American 'culture' is a very big revenue earner. Students could discuss the different techniques, which a promoter might use to market the play and the film. What does this suggest about arts marketing in general? The teacher might wish to lead a debate on the ethical aspects of arts' marketing. For instance is the argument 'it is what the public wants' good enough if there is something morally suspect about the work? Is there a chasm between commercially viable and intellectual art?