Dead Babies (novel)

Dead Babies

First UK edition
Author	Martin Amis
Country	England
Language	English
Publisher	Knopf (US) Jonathan Cape (UK)
Publication date	1975
Preceded by	The Rachel Papers
Followed by	Success

Dead Babies is Martin Amis' second novel, published in 1975 by Jonathan Cape. It was published in paperback as Dark Secrets.^[1]

Plot

Amis's second novel—a parody of Agatha Christie's country-house mysteries^[2]—takes place over a single weekend at a manor called Appleseed Rectory.

Reception

In 2001, BBC critic David Wood wrote "Amis' second novel ranks among his most incendiary with its mordant wit, black comedy, and sense of the violently absurd."^[3]

Film version

In 2000, the book was adapted into a film of the same name, starring Paul Bettany and Olivia Williams.

Further reading

• Bentley, Nick (2014). Martin Amis (Writers and Their Work). Northcote House Publishing Ltd.

• Diedrick, James (2004). Understanding Martin Amis (Understanding Contemporary British Literature). University of South Carolina Press.

• Finney, Brian (2013). Martin Amis (Routledge Guides to Literature). Routledge.

• Keulks, Gavin (2003). Father and Son: Kingsley Amis, Martin Amis, and the British Novel Since 1950. University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 978-0299192105.

• Keulks, Gavin (ed) (2006). Martin Amis: Postmodernism and Beyond. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0230008304.

• Tredall, Nicolas (2000). The Fiction of Martin Amis (Readers' Guides to Essential Criticism). Palgrave Macmillan.

• Bradford, Richard (November 2012). Martin Amis: The Biography. Pegasus. ISBN 978-1605983851.

References

1. Amazon
2. Thomas Jones, "Short Cuts", London Review of Books, 16 November 2000
3. David Wood, "Dead Babies", BBC, 22 January 2001