Bad Blood (Sage book) explained

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, Pub. date 10 July 2001, paperback (First edition)

Notes and References

1. Web site: Wilson. Frances. 2000-09-09. Guardian review: Bad Blood by Lorna Sage. 2022-01-07. the Guardian. en.
2. News: Books of the moment: What the papers said. 19 July 2024 . The Daily Telegraph . 9 Sep 2000. 68.
3. Web site: Bad Blood. 14 January 2023 . Bookmarks. https://web.archive.org/web/20041103062401/http://www.bookmarksmagazine.com/Selections/badblood.html. 3 Nov 2004.
4. News: Fenton. James. The Woman Who Did. 13 June 2002. 21 October 2019.
5. News: 100 Best Books of the 21st Century. The Guardian . 21 September 2019. December 8, 2019.