Killing Time: A Sunday Times Bestselling 'pitch-perfect' (Observer) treat for winter.

Publishing March 2026 ***Killing Time is a gift of a short story from Alan Bennett - a glorious, darkly comic treat. I'll rout her out.'THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER. Killing Time was a Sunday Times bestseller w/e 09/11/2024 to w/e 28/12/2024.

We have a choir and on special occasions a glass of dry sherry. It’s less of a home and more of a club and very much a community.

Presided over by the lofty Mrs McBryde, Hill Topp House is a superior council home for the elderly. Among the unforgettable cast of staff and residents there’s Mr Peckover the deluded archaeologist, Phyllis the knitter, Mr Cresswell the ex-cruise ship hairdresser, the enterprising Mrs Foss and Mr Jimson the chiropodist. Covid is the cause of fatalities and the source of darkly comic confusion, but it’s also the key to liberation. As staff are hospitalised, protocol breaks down. Miss Rathbone reveals a lifelong secret, and the surviving residents seize their moment, arthritis allowing, to scamper freely in the warmth of the summer sun.

‘Violet? She’ll be having a little lie down,’ said Mrs McBryde. ‘She likes to give her pacemaker a rest. I’ll rout her out.’

• | Author: Alan Bennett
• | Publisher: Faber & Faber
• | Publication Date: Sep 11, 2025
• | Number of Pages:
• | Language:
• | Binding: Paperback / softback
• | ISBN-13: 9780571394821
• | ISBN-10: 0571394825