About the Author

Patrick Hamilton (1904—1962) was born into a literary family and became active in the theater at a young age. He was a prolific writer, both of fiction and for the stage, and a notorious alcoholic. Among his most famous novels are Hangover Square and Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky (forthcoming from NYRB Classics).

David Lodge is the author of several novels, including Author, Author, Changing Places, Small World, Nice Work, Paradise News, and Therapy. He has also written many works of literary criticism, including The Art of Fiction and Consciousness and the Novel: Connected Essays. He lives in Birmingham, England.

Reviews

“Slaves of Solitude seems to me a masterpiece and certainly one of the best novels to come out of the Second World War.”
—David Lodge, for The Times Literary Supplement

“Patrick Hamilton is the great forgotten man of 1930s and 1940s fiction.”
—Time Out London

“One of Hamilton's finest novels...The Slaves of Solitude is a pitch-perfect comedy, in which all the passions and tensions of war are enacted in a seedy boarding house in Henley-on-Thames.”
—The Independent

“I enjoyed every page of this novel, and have never had the pleasure of seeing the panoply of loneliness and depression employed to such brilliant comic effect.”
—Katherine Powers, The Boston Globe

“The author sketches the everyday with a deft, often comedic touch, yet never loses sight of the ultimate pathos of the human condition.”
—Newsday

“A welcome opportunity for contemporary readers to discover [Patrick Hamilton]...The author sketches the everyday with a deft, often comedic touch, yet never loses sight of the ultimate pathos of the human condition.”
—Los Angeles Times

“Gritty, real, tough, and sardonic.... If you were looking to fly from Dickens to Martin Amis with just one overnight stop, then Hamilton is your man.”
—Nick Hornby

“My favourites are the novels which capture the gloom, grubbiness and paranoia of Forties London life—for example...Patrick Hamilton’s fabulously poignant The Slaves of Solitude and Hangover Square.”
—Sarah Waters

“Patrick Hamilton is being revived again. And it looks serious this time… JB Priestley was an early supporter. Hamilton's book The West Pier was generously described by Graham Greene as "the best novel ever written about Brighton". He was John Betjeman's favourite contemporary novelist. Writers from Julie Burchill to Doris Lessing are warm admirers. Biographer Michael Holroyd has written numerous essays and introductions. Nick Hornby recently described him as 'my new best friend'.”
—The Independent