The bottle factory outing (50th anniversary edition)

Shortlisted for the Booker Prize Named 'one of the greatest novels of all time' by the ObserverWith a new introduction by Amanda CraigFreda and Brenda are friends spending their days in an Italian-run wine-bottling factory in North London.

When a works outing materialises it offers promise for Freda, but terror for Brenda.

Unexpected passions run high on the chilly day of liberty and their lives are never the same again.

Beryl Bainbridge dazzles readers in this offbeat, haunting yet hilarious novel. 'An outrageously funny and horrifying novel' GRAHAM GREENE'Two very complex, funny female characters.

They need each other although they would never admit it' MAXINE PEAKE'Superb... vibrant... profoundly comic' THE TIMES'Few writers offer more control and delight' GUARDIAN