The Laying on of Hands

Alan Bennett's extraordinary ear for dialogue and sharpness of perception have made him a master storyteller. In "Father! Father! Burning Bright" he writes with tragicomic insight about a son's vigil at his father's deathbed where their lifelong battle continues to the end. "The Laying on of Hands," a brilliantly funny satire, describes a society memorial service for a rather special masseur who died tragically young; and in "Miss Fozzard Finds her Feet," a lonely, unmarried department store clerk discovers there's more to life than looking after her brother through her only indulgence, her podiatrist.