{{Short description|1992 book by Esther Freud}} {{about|the 1992 novel|the 1998 film|Hideous Kinky (film)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{infobox book | <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Novels or Wikipedia:WikiProject_Books --> | name = Hideous Kinky | title_orig = | translator = | image = File:HideousKinky.jpg | caption = First edition | author = Esther Freud | cover_artist = Lucian Freud | country = United Kingdom | language = English | series = | genre = Autobiographical novel | publisher = Hamish Hamilton | release_date = 30 January 1992 | media_type = Print (hardback & paperback) | pages = 192 pp | isbn = 0-241-13179-0 | oclc= 24796175 | preceded_by = | followed_by = }} '''''Hideous Kinky''''' is an autobiographical novel by Esther Freud, daughter of British painter Lucian Freud and Bernardine Coverley and great-granddaughter of Sigmund Freud. It depicts the author's unconventional childhood in Morocco with her mother and her elder sister, Bella. In 1998, a film adaptation was released.
==Plot summary== A young mother and her two daughters travel to Marrakesh, Morocco, during the 1960s. The mother, Julia, is disenchanted by the dreary conventions of English life, hence the journey. They live in a low-rent Marrakesh hotel and make a living out of sewing dresses and with some money sent by the girls' father, an artist in London.
Whilst the mother explores Sufism and quests for personal fulfilment, the daughters rebel. The elder, Bea, attempting to re-create her English life, wants to get an education and insists on going to school. The younger, Lucy, dreams of trivial things, like mashed potatoes, but also yearns for a father. Her hopes settle on a most unlikely candidate.
The girls match their mother with Bilal, a Moroccan acrobat; the relationship turns sexual and he moves in, becoming almost a surrogate father. However, Julia's friend encourages her to travel to Algiers and study with a Sufi master at a school that advocates the "annihilation of the ego." As money vanishes, Julia's response is to claim that "God will provide," albeit in the person of Bilal.
==Film, TV or theatrical adaptations== In 1998, the novel was adapted into a film, ''Hideous Kinky'', directed by Gillies MacKinnon.
==Release details== * 1992, UK, Hamish Hamilton {{ISBN|0-241-13179-0}}, Pub date 30 January 1992, hardback (First edition) * 1992, USA, Harcourt {{ISBN|0-15-140216-7}}, Pub date 1 July 1992, hardback * 1993, UK, Penguin Books {{ISBN|0-14-017412-5}}, Pub date 25 February 1993, paperback * 1998, USA, W.W. Norton {{ISBN|0-88001-593-4}}, Pub date ? April 1998, paperback * 1999, UK, CSA Word {{ISBN|1-901768-20-1}}, Pub date ? January 1999, Audio book cassette (narrated by Esther Freud) * 1999, USA, ScreenPress Books {{ISBN|1-901680-25-8}}, Pub date 11 March 1999, paperback (Film screenplay)
==External links== * {{cite book |url= https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/16161/hideous-kinky/9780140174120.html |title= Hideous Kinky |date= 1993 |display-authors= 0 |author-link= Esther Freud |first= Esther |last= Freud |publisher= Penguin |isbn= 9780140174120 }} * {{cite news |url= https://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2008/sep/16/esther.freud |title= Guardian book club: Esther Freud |format= Podcast |date= Sep 16, 2008 |first= John |last= Mullan |newspaper= The Guardian }}
{{Authority control}}
Category:1992 British novels Category:British autobiographical novels Category:English novels Category:British novels adapted into films Category:Novels set in Morocco Category:Novels set in the 1960s Category:1992 debut novels Category:Hamish Hamilton books