Bad Blood (Sage book)

Bad Blood

First edition
Author	Lorna Sage
Language	English
Genre	Memoir
Publisher	Fourth Estate
Publication date	2000
Publication place	Wales
Media type	Print (Paperback & Hardback) & AudioBook (Cassette)
Pages	288 pp (first edition, paperback)
ISBN	1-84115-043-6 (first edition, paperback)
OCLC	46512313

Bad Blood is a 2000 work blending collective biography and memoir by the Anglo-Welsh literary critic and academic Lorna Sage.

Set in post-war North Wales, it reflects on the dysfunctional generations of a family, its problems, and their effect on Sage. It won the 2001 Whitbread Book Biography of the Year seven days before Sage died of emphysema.^[1]

Reception

Upon release, Bad Blood was generally well-received among the British press. The Daily Telegraph reported on reviews from several publications with a rating scale for the novel out of "Love It", "Pretty Good", "Ok", and "Rubbish": Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph, and TLS reviews under "Love It" and Literary Review review under "Pretty Good".^[2] On Bookmarks, the book received a (4.0 out of 5) based on critic reviews with a summary saying, "It is a memoir that, as the Library Journal writes, “stands up to the very best".^[3]

James Fenton wrote in The New York Review of Books: "What makes the book remarkable is the individual story she has to tell, and which she delivers with such glee."^[4]

The Guardian ranked Bad Blood at number 89 in its list of 100 Best Books of the 21st Century in September 2019.^[5]

Release details

• 2001, UK, Fourth Estate (ISBN 1-84115-043-6), Pub. date 10 July 2001, paperback (First edition)

References

1. Wilson, Frances (9 September 2000). "Guardian review: Bad Blood by Lorna Sage". the Guardian. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
2. "Books of the moment: What the papers said". The Daily Telegraph. 9 September 2000. p. 68. Retrieved 19 July 2024.
3. "Bad Blood". Bookmarks. Archived from the original on 3 November 2004. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
4. Fenton, James (13 June 2002). "The Woman Who Did". Retrieved 21 October 2019. (subscription required)
5. "100 Best Books of the 21st Century". The Guardian. 21 September 2019. Retrieved 8 December 2019.