NOVELS
Alvin Rakoff, the British (UK) -
Canadian director, producer, writer, author, novelist and play write,
has written a number of works of literature.
Literature include novles, books,
screenplays, musicals, theater and theatre plays
Original Screen plays and screen
play adaptations by the UK director / writer / producer include Say Hello
to Yesterday,
Alvin Rakoff 's theater / theatre muscials include Johnny Mercer
Literature Novels by the Canada UK writer - director - producer - writer
- screenplay, musical and play writer include & Gillian
Alvin Rakoff is currently working
on a theater screenplay adaptation of Othello along with the theatre musical
Johnny Mercer
& GILLIAN Alvin
Rakoff's first novel was published by Little Brown in 1996 and to date
has been translated
into
10 other languages.
The use of the ampersand to create the unusual title & GILLIAN is deliberate.
Ampersand. And the ampersand partner, the wife, the husband, the other
half of a twosome. As in Jack & Jill, Darby & Joan, Victoria & Albert,
Romeo & Juliet. And Robin & Gillian. While working in New York, Gillian,
a girl from Selly Oak, Birmingham,
meets Robin Laurent, the only son of an old New England family. It is
not at first a match to please the gods.
Robin is not yet ready to enmesh himself in a binding alliance, as with
her feisty sense of humour and outspoken freshness, Gillian's robust personality
endangers the delicate balance of the fragile relationship. But she learns
to
give and he learns to give; and they both learn to love.
Returning to England, she appears happy to play the role of wife, happy
to be the second name, happy to have Robin and an ampersand proceed her.
Gillian lives, laughs with and loves her man, the devoted mother to their
two sons Samuel and Michael - perfect partners in a marriage and a family,
as in the game Happy Families. But life is a hard game to play when the
rules are constantly changing. When Robin meets a younger woman, Clara,
on a trip to Paris, he knows he must not turn from old love to new love.
And then events come to enshroud Gillian's days. Ampersand and a name
is a partner's story. & GILLIAN is Gillian's story, a story of love, marriage
and another woman.
"No trite cliché or philosophical reflection alleviates the
raw emotion. A very personal stab at a taboo subject"
Daily Telegraph
"Alvin Rakoff's moving novel (is an) unsparing account of bereavement
mitigated by his affectionate portrayal of
married life" The Times
"Alvin Rakoff .. has written a novel that prompted
fever bidding at an auction. Anne Williams at Headline made a £30,000
opening offer for two books within 24 hours of receipt of & GILLIAN ...
eight people at Little Brown read the novel and, says the agent, 'editors
all over London were crying over their copies'.. Little Brown won the
auction by paying 'a very substantial advance' " Book Seller
SEVEN
EINSTEINS His
second novel - a science fiction thriller - attacks the dangers of cloning
He
is currently adapting this work for the screen for Transworld Pictures
Ltd
BALDWIN STREET
The third novel is based on his childhood in
Canada
PLAYS
JOHNNY
MERCER He has
recently been commissioned to write the book for a theatrical musical
based
on the life of songwriter JOHNNY MERCER. He has long been a fan of
the
pop scene and musical comedy and found the Johnny Mercer story particularly
telling.
OTHELLO Alvin
is also writing a screenplay commissioned by Dancetime Ltd bringing the
OTHELLO story up to date.
SCREEN PLAYS
Alvin Rakoff has written a host of original screen
plays and adaptations for cinema and television,
these include ...
ORIGINAL SCREEN PLAYS
SAY HELLO TO YESTERDAY starring Jean Simmons, Leonard
Whiting (Cinerama)
CHURCHILL'S PEOPLE (BBC)
ROOMS (Thames Television)
SCREEN
ADAPTATIONS
CITY ON FIRE
starring Ava Gardner, Henry Fonda (Astral Films)
OUR
TOWN (BBC)
A MAN ABOUT A DOG (Anglia Television)
CAINE MUTINY COURT MARTIAL (BBC)
SEVEN
EINSTEINS Transworld
Pictures Ltd have asked him to adapt his novel to the screen.
For further information
contact Ben Berry berry@alvinrakoff.com
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