Summary of Behind the Scenes at the Museum
“Behind the Scenes at the Museum” tells the life story of Ruby Lennox, a woman from York, and of four generations of women in her family. Together, these narratives form a compelling portrait of an English family throughout the twentieth century, particularly during the two World Wars.
Reasons to read Behind the Scenes at the Museum
“Behind the Scenes at the Museum” is a warm, darkly comic novel set in York, with Ruby acting as the curator of the metaphorical ‘museum’ of her family’s history. It was the debut novel of English author Kate Atkinson and won the 1995 Whitbread Book Award (both the first novel award and the overall award), now known as the Costa Book Award. Atkinson later went on to win the Costa Book Award for Best Novel in 2013 and 2015, for “Life After Life” and “A God in Ruins” respectively.
Setting: York (England, UK)
Original title: Behind the Scenes at the Museum
Year of publication: 1995
Nr of pages: 381
