Stars Tennis Balls by Stephen Fry

The Stars' Tennis Balls
Stephen Fry (Author)
3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (90 customer reviews)
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Length: 450 pages (Contains Real Page Numbers)
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Product Description
Amazon Review
Ned Maddstone has it all. He's handsome and talented; he has the love of a beautiful woman and in 1980, he stands at the brink of a glittering future. He rounds off an outstanding public school career with a sailing trip to Scotland, which is where his fortunes enter a terrifying tailspin. Determined to honour the dying wish of his sailing instructor, Ned returns to London, where the schemes of jealous classmates catapult him into a 10-year nightmare. Confined to a solitary Hell, believed dead by all those who loved him, Ned transforms from a terminally nice guy into a creature bent on revenge, a revenge both satisfying and apocalyptic.

Few writers can deliver so much in one package, but here Stephen Fry combines a riotous satire of the privileged classes with elements of the darkest thrillers. While the plot bounces from the sublime to the surreal, his characters remain acutely real. Ned's classmates, slow-witted hedonist Rufus Cade, and the Machiavellian climber Ashley Barson-Garland--who is aroused by the sight of straw boaters--are masterful creations. This novel has nothing to do with tennis, and everything to do with the cruel logic of Fate. Game, set and match to Mr Fry. - - Matthew Baylis
Review
“A Count of Monte Cristo for the dot.com generation…whatever Stephen Fry does, he has it — that rare, unlearnable quality. When he speaks, you listen. When he writes, you read.” — "Literary Review"
“Stylish…written up with zest and humour…a page-turner and full of fun.” — "Spectator
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“A revenge tragedy for our times.” — "The Times"
“A taut thriller…a talent for terror and suspense-writing.” — "Sunday Telegraph"

"From the Paperback edition."
Book Description
'We are merely the stars' tennis balls, struck and banded / Which way please them' (The Duchess of Malfi, John Webster) Pure Stephen Fry, this is the story of Ned Maddstone, a very nice young man who is about to find out just what hell it is to be one of the stars' tennis balls.
Product Description

Ned Maddstone has the world at his feet. He is handsome, talented and about to go to Cambridge, after which he is expected to follow his father into politics. But an unfortunate confrontation with a boy in his school results in a prank that goes badly wrong and suddenly he's incarcerated - without chance of release. So begins a year long process of torment and hopelessness, which will destroy his very identity, until almost nothing remains of him but this unquenchable desire for revenge.



Inspired by the Count of Monte Cristo, Fry's psychological thriller is written with the pace, wit and shrewd insight that we have come to expect from one of our finest novelists.
From the Publisher
‘We are merely the stars’ tennis balls, struck and banded / Which way please them’ (The Duchess of Malfi, John Webster) Pure Stephen Fry, this is the story of Ned Maddstone, a very nice young man who is about to find out just what hell it is to be one of the stars’ tennis balls.
From the Back Cover

We are merely the stars' tennis balls, struck and banded

Which way please them

The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster

For Ned, 1980 seems a blissful year. Handsome, charming, popular and talented, his life is progressing smoothly, effortlessly, happily. And when he meets the lovely Portia Fendeman his personal jigsaw appears complete. But timing is everything in life, and his life is about to change for ever.

'Has a lightness of touch that comes only with a mastery of language.. A page-turner'

Observer

'Every bit as witty and clever as one would expect'

Mail on Sunday

'Whatever Stephen Fry does, he has it - that rare, unlearnable quality. When he speaks you listen. When he writes, you read'

Literary Review
About the Author
As well as being the bestselling author of four novels, The Stars' Tennis Balls, Making History, The Hippopotamus, and The Liar, and the first volume of his autobiography, Moab is My Washpot, Fry has played Peter in Peter's Friends, Wilde in the film Wilde, Jeeves in the television series Jeeves & Wooster and (a closely guarded show-business secret, this) Laurie in the television series Fry & Laurie.