The Fledgeling

I cant go back. Id rather die--Id rather be dead.Neil Collins is going AWOL from his National Service - for the third time. Twice he has served time for previous desertions and been sent back despite being hopelessly unsuited to military life. This time terrorized by a bullying fellow soldier determined to escape himself Neil intends to make his escape a permanent one. He heads to London to the dreary claustrophobic rooms where his twin sister Nonie and their dying grandmother live periodically invaded by prying neighbours a little girl who has befriended Mrs Collins a curious social worker and other uninvited visitors.The Fledgeling (1958) traces the single day following Neils desertion and its impacts on Neil Nonie the tough-as-nails Mrs Collins and others. Each of the characters comes vividly alive in Faviells sensitive and observant prose. At times containing all the tension of a thriller at others a profound drama of familial turmoil Faviells third and final novel is dramatic compelling and emotionally wrenching. This new edition features an afterword by Frances Faviells son John Parker and additional supplementary material.A writer of unusual skill and delicacy in suggesting nuances of feeling and of character Orville PrescottShe writes with a sharpness of outline which would not shame Simenon. J.W. Lambert Sunday Times