Barbara Trapido was born in South Africa and is the author of six novels.

She lives in Oxford.

Stylish, suburban Katherine is eighteen when she is propelled into the centre of Professor Jacob Goldman's rambling home and his large eccentric family. As his enchanting yet sharp-tongued wife Jane gives birth to her sixth child, Katherine meets the volatile, stroppy Jonathan and his older, more beautiful brother Roger, who wins her heart. First love quickly leads to heartbreak and sends her fleeing to Rome but, ten years on, she returns to find the Goldmans again. A little wiser and a lot more grown-up, Katherine faces her future.

Brother of the More Famous Jack is Barbara Trapido's highly acclaimed and much loved debut; a book that redefined the coming-of-age novel.

She's really really good . Her particular way of being really really good is also why she's not better known . If you want a formula for a really good neglected book, one of the things it would feature is a mix of tones . she does a lot of things very well, and the sad things are often quite funny, and the funny things are often quite sad. The emotional register changes in ways which is very much like the actual texture of real life

'Perfect characters and dialogue - the most satisfying book I've ever read'

'A story, like Mansfield Park, of falling in love with a whole family'

'The style is hectic and passionate, the jokes thick and fast, the emotions full and right, the humanity total and engulfing ... a first fruit to savour and exalt'

'There are few modern tales of first love and its disillusions that are as thoroughly realised, as brilliantly lewd, and as hilariously satisfying to men and women of all ages as this one'

The larger-than-life novel that redefined the coming-of-age genre, Brother of the More Famous Jack is Trapido's highly acclaimed debut