Edward St. Aubyn Books In Order

Publication Order of Patrick Melrose Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Hogarth Shakespeare Books

Edward St. Aubyn is a reputed English novelist, who is famous for writing Literature & fiction and contemporary novels. He is particularly popular for the semi-autobiographical series called Patrick Melrose series. Author Aubyn is also a noteworthy journalist and his works have earned him a lot of name and fame. Edward Aubyn’s writing career is comprised of 8 novels in total. His 2006 novel, Mother’s Milk, had received a nomination for Booker Prize. Author Aubyn was born on January 14, 1960 in an upper class family in London. His family history consists of some royal family members, including Sir Edward Aubyn, John St. Aubyn, John Emery, Jr., Dmitri Pavlovich, Constance Talmadge, Audrey Emery, etc.

Author Aubyn has an older sister named Alexandra and 2 half sisters from the first marriage of his father. Aubyn spent his earlier years growing up in France and London. His family owned a house in France and he used to visit it from time to time. Author Aubyn has claimed that he had to go through a pretty rough and unhappy childhood as his father used to rape and abuse him repeatedly with his mother’s complicity between the ages of five and eight. He completed his schooling from the Westminster School and then went on to join the Keble College, Oxford in 1979 for studying English. By that time, author Aubyn had become an addict of heroin.

When he became 25 years old, Aubyn had to undergo psychotherapy. And following his successful return to soberness, he decided to choose the career path of writing and take up writing as a full time career. Between 1987 and 1990, author Aubyn was married to writer Nicola Shulman. He has 2 children and lives along with them in London. Author Aubyn is quite content with how his literary career has shaped up. He wishes to write some more exciting novels for his fans to read and enjoy. Aubyn’s books have reached out to a large number of readers from across the globe and have sold millions of printed copies worldwide. He hopes that the readers continue to support him with all his future works as well.

The Patrick Melrose books written by Edward Aubyn are formed by the first five books of his career. Aubyn re-released the first 4 books separately in 2012 in one single volume. He has stated and confirmed that the Patrick Melrose stories are based on his own life. He has described his personal experiences of growing up in a very dysfunctional English upper-class family. Some of the tragedies and downfalls mentioned in the books from his personal life include dealing with his parents’ deaths, heroin addiction, alcoholism. Author Aubyn has also showed the positives of his life that helped him change into a good man and a noteworthy writer, which include his marriage, parenthood, and his recovery from drug addiction. The media sometimes likes to portray the Melrose novels as stories of the decadent aristocracy, but Aubyn says that they are frequently caustic and based on the triviality and futility of people who inherit the family fortune. This point has been clearly explained in the last Melrose novel called

At Last. Many noted critics have hailed the books as powerful explorations of how childhood adversity leads to the carving of the emotional health of a person. Author Aubyn’s novel, Mother’s Milk, was adapted into a feature movie in 2012. Aubyn wrote the screenplay and Gerald Fox was chosen as the director. The film starred Adrian Dunbar, Jack Davenport, Margaret Tyzack, and Diana Quick in the lead roles. A 5-part TV series has also been developed based on Patrick Melrose books. It features Benedict Cummerbatch in the role of Patrick Melrose. Each episode of the TV series is adapted from a different book of the novel series. With the success of the film and TV series, author Aubyn’s career became even more successful. He reached new heights of success as the two adaptations spread his name to places where the books had not reached so far. The overwhelming responses made author Aubyn much happier as a writer. His career became even more successful after winning several prestigious awards such as the Betty Trask Prize, Guardian Fiction Award, Prix Femina Etranger, Bollinger Wodehouse Prize, and a Man Booker Prize.

The Patrick Melrose series written by author Edward St. Aubyn is comprised of a total of 5 books, which were released between the years 1992 and 2011. A very interesting book of this series is entitled ‘Bad News’. It was released by the Minerva publication in the year 1977, after its first release in 1992. The book consists of Patrick Melrose as the main character and several other supporting characters. Aubyn has done the story’s setting in New York.

At the start of the book’s story, Patrick Melrose is shown as a 22 year old man having heroin addiction. He learns about the death of his father and decides to visit New York for collecting the ashes of his deceased father. During his weekend visit, Patrick Melrose searches every corner of Manhattan with a remorseless soul to find drugs. His search leads him to insistent voices from his inside self and some old acquaintances. The whole weekend feels like a nightmare for him. He comes back to his room at Pierce Hotel and attempts to push himself to extremities. Patrick seems desperate to remain a step ahead of the encroaching past life.

Another exciting novel of the series penned by Aubyn is called ‘Some Hope’. It was published in 2012 by the Picador publishers, after its initial release in 1994. At the beginning of the story of the book, Patrick Melrose is depicted as a clean and responsible man. He has gotten rid of his drug addiction and become completely sober. Patrick Melrose arrives at a party in the countryside of England and feels like a reluctant guest. The crowd around him at the party appears to be social dragonflies.

Patrick observes the cruelties around and feels that his capacity for the forgiveness he is seeking and the redemption search are challenged. The atmosphere makes him remember his childhood savageries and he wonders if he will ever succeed in getting rid of those haunting memories. Even his newly acquired openness and biting wit don’t seem to be of any help. This book was also regarded as a masterpiece from author Aubyn and hailed for its unique story and interesting narrative. People from all parts of the world read with great interest and liked it.