England in the middle of World War II, a war that seems fated to go on forever, a war that has become a way of life. Heroic resistance is old hat. Everything is in short supply, and tempers are even shorter.
Overwhelmed by the terrors and rigors of the Blitz, middle-aged Miss Roach has retreated to the relative safety and stupefying boredom of the suburban town of Thames Lockdon, where she rents a room in a boarding house run by Mrs. Payne. There the savvy, sensible, decent, but all-too-meek Miss Roach endures the dinner-table interrogations of Mr. Thwaites and seeks to relieve her solitude by going out drinking and necking with a wayward American lieutenant. Life is almost bearable until Vicki Kugelmann, a seeming friend, moves into the adjacent room. That's when Miss Roach's troubles really start to begin.
Recounting an epic battle of wills in the claustrophobic confines of the boarding house, Patrick Hamilton's The Slaves of Solitude, with a delightfully improbable heroine, is one of the finest and funniest books ever written about the trials of a lonely heart.
London: Publisher's cloth in dust jacket. 1st Edition. Constable, 1947. Minor rubbing at extremities; some chipping to the jacket, which is also lightly dampstained at the spine; moderate general use. Jacket is protected by adjustable archival order jacket protector. Vibrant blue boards with gilt lettering to spine. Jacket is not price clipped {see picture}.
Product code: The Slaves of Solitude by Patrick Hamilton 1947 Constable 1st Edition Hardcover Book with order Jacket