Book description
London, 1920s. Sid Nichols is one half of the comedy duo, The Trojan
Brothers, one of the city's most celebrated shows. His role is as the
back-end of a pantomime horse with his dear friend, Benny, leading from
the front. Every night they take the music halls by storm, picking
members of the audience to ridicule to the amusement of all present. Yet
one night Sid meets his match when he spots his long-lost cousin, Betty
Todd, sitting in the aisles. A battle of wits ensues and Sid becomes
enamoured with his new sparring partner, much to the dismay of Benny and
his wife. For them it is obvious that a woman of Betty's social class
will not take a man like Sid seriously. He will only be hurt and
humiliated.
However Sid is determined to pursue this dangerous affair, and as his
infatuation for Betty grows, he is driven to the edge of insanity by
this woman's games. It soon becomes clear that what started out as a
simple amusement will lead to the most devastating conclusion.
Pamela Hansford Johnson wrote 27 novels across genres as diverse as
romance, comedy and tragedy. An incredibly readable and literary author,
who deserves to be rediscovered by a new generation, Bello has brought
18 of Johnson's books back into print. Pamela Hansford Johnson was
born in 1912 and gained recognition with her first novel, This Bed Thy
Centre, published in 1935. She wrote 27 novels. Her themes centred on
the moral responsibility of the individual in their personal and social
relations. The fictional genres she used ranged from romantic comedy
(Night and Silence, Who Is Here) and high comedy (The Unspeakable
Skipton) to tragedy (The Holiday Friend) and the psychological study of
cruelty (An Error of Judgement). Her last novel, A Bonfire, was
published in the year of her death, 1981. She was a critic as well as a
novelist and wrote books on Thomas Wolfe and Ivy Compton-Burnett; Six
Proust Reconstructions (1958) confirmed her reputation as a leading
Proustian scholar. She also wrote a play, Corinth House (1954), a work
of social criticism arising out of the Moors Trial, On Iniquity (1967),
and a book of essays, Important to Me (1974). She received honorary
degrees from six universities and was a Fellow of the Royal Society of
Literature. She was awarded the C. B.E. in 1975. Pamela Hansford
Johnson, who had two children by her first marriage with journalist
Gordon Neil Stewart, later married C. P. Snow. Their son Philip was born
in 1952.
