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Hideous Kinky

Published
Jul 1992
Main Genre
Action Adventure Action & Adventure
Rating
Pages
192

About This Book

Called "a near-seamless meshing of family feeling, history and imagination" by the New York Times Book Review and the inspiration for the film starring Kate Winslet.

Escaping gray London in 1972, a beautiful, determined mother takes her daughters, aged five and seven, to Morocco in search of adventure, a better life, and maybe love. 

Hideous Kinky follows two little English girls -- the five-year-old narrator and Bea, her seven-year-old sister -- as they struggle to establish some semblance of normal life on a trip to Morocco with their hippie mother, Julia. Once in Marrakech, Julia immerses herself in Sufism and her quest for personal fulfillment, while her daughters rebel -- the older by trying to recreate her English life, the younger by turning her hopes for a father on a most unlikely candidate.

Rediscover this transporting modern classic about the spirit of freedom, filled with the sights, smells and textures of twentieth century Morocco. Shocking and wonderful, Hideous Kinky is at once melancholy and hopeful.

A remarkable debut novel from one of England's finest young writers, Hideous Kinky was inspired by the author's own experiences as a child. Esther Freud, daughter of the artist Lucian Freud and great-granddaughter of Sigmund Freud, lived in Marrakech for one and a half years with her older sister Bella and her mother. 

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Formats & Editions

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Paperback

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Trade Paperback
Apr 1998 Ecco Press ISBN 0880015934
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Trade Paperback
Mar 1993 Penguin (UK) ISBN 0140174125
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Trade Paperback
Dec 1999 Ecco Press ISBN 0880016884
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Mass Market Paperback
Aug 2015 Penguin (UK) ISBN 024197366X
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Hardcover

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Hardcover
First Edition Jul 1992 Harcourt ISBN 0151402167
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Hardcover
Jan 1999 CSA Telltapes ISBN 1901768201
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eBook

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eBook
Jul 2021 Ecco Press ISBN 0063211025
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eBook
Jul 2021 Ecco ISBN B092VW3LFH
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eBook
Jul 2021 Penguin ISBN 0141956127
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Audio

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Audio Cassette
Jan 1999 Audio Partners ISBN 1572700998
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Audible
Sep 2025 -- Not Selected ISBN B0FLYQB14K
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