The Ragman’s Daughter (1963) was Alan Sillitoe’s second
collection of short stories after The Loneliness of the
Long-Distance Runner (1960). All seven stories in the volume
are set mainly in Nottingham and feature working-class protagonists
whom we sometimes know only by their forenames, which contributes
to a sense of intimacy. The collection confirms that Sillitoe was a
master of the short story form, able to create absorbing
characters, scenes and situations and to pack large implications
into a brief run of pages.
The title story is a lively and finally poignant first-person
narrative. Tony, 18-and-a-half when the story starts, picks up
Doris Randall, a girl of about 17 in her last year at grammar
school, w…
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Citation:
Tredell, Nicolas. "The Ragman's Daughter". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 09 November 2012 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=34716, accessed 26 November 2024.]
