The Uncommon Reader - Alan Bennett

The Uncommon Reader is none other than HM the Queen who drifts accidentally into reading when her corgis stray into a mobile library parked at Buckingham Palace. She reads widely ( JR Ackerley, Jean Genet, Ivy Compton Burnett and the classics) and intelligently. Her reading naturally changes her world view and her relationship with people like the oleaginous prime minister and his repellent advisers. She comes to question the prescribed order of the world and loses patience with much that she has to do. In short, her reading is subversive. The consequence is, of course, surprising, mildly shocking and very funny.

The cheapest used copy of The Uncommon Reader - Alan Bennett is €1.45 at Label Emmaüs. Prices checked 14 Nov 2026

More by Alan Bennett, Ernst Kemmner (Sous la Direction de)