A Kestrel for a Knave
  • Published: 19 November 2004
  • ISBN: 9780141184982
  • Imprint: Penguin Classics
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 208
  • RRP: $22.99

A Kestrel for a Knave

Formats & editions
Paperback
1 Oct 2016
Paperback
19 Nov 2004
EBook
3 May 2010
EBook
19 Nov 2004
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With prose that is every bit as raw, intense and bitingly honest as the world it depicts, Barry Hines's A Kestrel for a Knave contains a new afterword by the author in Penguin Modern Classics.

Life is tough and cheerless for Billy Casper, a disillusioned teenager growing up in a small Yorkshire mining town. Violence is commonplace and he is frequently cold and hungry. Yet he is determined to be a survivor and when he finds Kes, a kestrel hawk he discovers a passion in life. Billy identifies with her proud silence and she inspired in him the trust and love that nothing else can. Intense and raw and bitingly honest, A KETREL FOR A KNAVE was first published in 1968 and was also madeinto a highly acclaimed film, 'Kes', directed by Ken Loach.
  • Published: 19 November 2004
  • ISBN: 9780141184982
  • Imprint: Penguin Classics
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 208
  • RRP: $22.99
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About the author

Barry Hines

Barry Hines was born in the mining village of Hoyland Common, near Barnsley, South Yorkshire. He was educated at Ecclesfield Grammar School, where his main achievement was to be selected to play for the England Grammar schools' football team. On leaving school, he worked as an apprentice mining surveyor and played football for Barnsley (mainly in the A team), before entering Lougborough Training College to study Physical Education. He taught for several years in London and South Yorkshire before becoming a full-time writer. He is the author of nine novels, including A Kestrel for a Knave, The Blinder, Looks and Smiles, The Heart of It and Elvis Over England. Both A Kestrel for a Knave (as Kes) and Looks and Smiles have been filmed, the latter winning the Prize for Contemporary Cinema at the Cannes Film Festival. He has also written many scripts for television, including Threads, which won the BAFTA award and the Broadcasting Press Guild Award for the best single drama.

Barry Hines is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and an Honorary Fellow of Sheffield Hallam University.