I'll Go To Bed at Noon

I'll Go to Bed at Noon (2004), is a book by author Gerard Woodward. It was shortlisted for Booker Prize (2004).


Set in the north London suburb of Palmers Green in the 1970s, the story opens with Colette Jones attending the funeral of her elder brother's wife, followed by her failed attempts to save him from excessive drinking. Alcoholism also destroys the life of Colette's son, a talented pianist, whom she tries to exile from her house.

It seems likely that the title was inspired by the William Shakespeare play King Lear. "And I'll go to bed at noon" is the last line spoken by the Fool.


Famous quotes containing the words bed and/or noon:

    A woman’s pity, which is talkative, carries the sick person’s bed to the public marketplace.
    Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)

    I stand in the sunny noon of life. Objects no longer glitter in the dews of morning, neither are yet softened by the shadows of evening.
    Margaret Fuller (1810–1850)