Saturday Night and Sunday Morning

Infobox Book
name = Saturday Night and Sunday Morning
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = Cover of the first UK edition
author = Alan Sillitoe
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = United Kingdom
language = English
series =
subject =
genre =
publisher = W. H. Allen
pub_date = 1958
english_pub_date =
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages = 213 pp
isbn =
oclc = 1807352
preceded_by =
followed_by = :"For the film, see Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (film)""Saturday Night and Sunday Morning" is a British novel by Alan Sillitoe (his second, published in 1958).

It was adapted by Sillitoe into a 1960 film starring Albert Finney, directed by Karel Reisz, and in 1964 was adapted by David Brett as a play for the Nottingham Playhouse, with Ian McKellen playing one of his first leading roles. [http://www.mckellen.com/stage/00026.htm] .

Plot

The novel Saturday Night and Sunday Morning is split into two unequal parts. The bulk of the book, Saturday night, and the second much smaller part, Sunday Morning.

Saturday Night

Saturday Night begins in a working man's club in Nottingham. Arthur is 22 years old, and enjoying a night out with Brenda, the wife of a colleague at work. Challenged to a drinking contest, Arthur defeats "Loudmouth" before falling down the stairs drunk. Brenda takes him home with her and they spend the night together. Arthur enjoys breakfast with Brenda and the children before her husband Jack gets home from a weekend at the races.

Arthur works at a lathe at a bicycle factory with Jack, and is friends with him. Arthur keeps his mind occupied during the mundane and repetitive work through a mental collage of imagined fantasies, and memories of the past. He earns a good wage of 14 pounds a week, and Robboe, his superior, fears he may get in trouble for letting Arthur earn so much. Soon Arthur hears the news that Jack has been switched to nights, which pleases Arthur as he can now spend more time with his wife. At the same time, Arthur carries on with Brenda's sister Winnie.

During another night out at the pub, Arthur meets Doreen, a young unmarried girl with whom he begins a relatively innocent courtship — all the while keeping Brenda and Winnie a secret. However, although Jack is oblivious to his wife's infidelity, Winnie's husband Bill catches on — and Arthur's actions catch up with him when Bill and an accomplice jump Arthur one night, leaving him beaten and bed-ridden for days.

Sunday Morning

Sunday Morning follows the course of events after Arthur's assault. When Doreen comes to check up on him, Arthur finally comes clean about his affairs with Brenda and Winnie. Doreen stays in a relationship with Arthur despite his dishonesty; Brenda and Winnie disappear from the story. By the end of the novel, Arthur and Doreen have made plans to move in with one another.