Sturdy grimness does not preclude a sense of humour.

Poppyland
D.J. TAYLOR

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As book titles go, D.J. Taylor’s The Prose Factory (2016) might almost be self-referential: it’s a combination of words that could describe Taylor – prolific biographer, critic and novelist – himself. Yet despite the industrial scale of his output, the short stories of Poppyland seem generally to have come from the craftsman’s workshop rather than the production line, whatever drudgery and ennui envelop the protagonists.

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