Book description
Harry Caldecote is the most charming man you'll ever meet, a convivial
academic who devotes his life to others. He is on call when his
alcoholic niece falls into strange hands, when his brother threatens to
emulate Wordsworth, when his son's lesbian lodger is beaten up by her
girlfriend. He endures misplaced seductions, swindles and aggressive
dogs just to keep the peace at the King's pub in Shepherd's Hill. But
when the Adams' Institute of Cultural and Commercial History in America
offers him the opportunity to do 'whatever he wanted to do' in a
picturesque lakeside town, he faces a choice between freedom or
responsibility - and whether to take charge of his own life. Kingsley
Amis's (1922-95) works take a humorous yet highly critical look at
British society, especially in the period following the end of World War
II. Born in London, Amis explored his disillusionment in novels such as
That Uncertain Feeling
(1955). His other works include The Green Man
(1970), Stanley and the Women
(1984), and The Old Devils
(1986), which won the Booker Prize. Amis also wrote poetry, criticism,
and short stories.
