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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
John Self

Where to start with: Paul Bailey

Paul Bailey.
A novelist, memoirist and more besides … Paul Bailey. Composite: David Levenson/Guardian Design/Getty Images

Paul Bailey, who died last October aged 87, was best known as a novelist of comic brilliance, wide-ranging empathy – even for the worst of his characters – and a cleverness that was never clinical. His fiction was frequently occupied with the impact of memories on our lives, and usually heavily driven by sharp, syncopated dialogue. But he was also a memoirist, poet and more besides – so here’s a guide to the legacy of books he left behind.

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