Book description
June 1890, Portugal. A child was born in somewhat curious
circumstances. Until the age of sixteen, his life was a safe and happy
one. At that point it changed suddenly, almost brutally. Handicapped by
a physically freakish appearance, he not only survived but grew up to
become a celebrated restaurateur.
He had unusual talents: he had the help, in various crises, of persons
as remarkable as himself, and he developed, half deliberately, half
unconsciously, a method of defending himself from the peculiar
difficulties of his life. The solid elegance and exceptionally admirable
food he offered in his restaurant were real enough, the two people
living in the basement were real, if in their different ways unusual,
and his young Spanish wife in her flat above the restaurant was notably
sane and delightful. In his own rooms, two small rooms on the roof of
the house, he entertained undeniably real visitors-but of what order of
reality?
The time covered by the external action of this brilliantly composed
novel runs from 1890 to 1942, years more full of vivid incident and
violent social change than any in our history, and here recorded in a
series of sharp-scenes.
Storm Jameson (1891- 1986) born to a North Yorkshire family of
shipbuilders. Jameson s fiery mother, who bore three girls, encouraged
Storm (christened Margaret Storm) to pursue an academic education. After
being taught privately and at Scarborough municipal school she won one
of three county scholarships which enabled her to read English
Literature at Leeds University. She then went on to complete an MA in
European Drama at King s College London.
During her career Jameson wrote forty-five novels, numerous pamphlets,
essays, and reviews, in an effort to make money. Her personal life
suffered, and her first marriage to schoolmaster Charles Douglas Clarke
was an unhappy one. After they divorced in 1925, Jameson went on to
marry Guy Chapman, a fellow author, and remained with him despite her
apparent rejection of normal domestic life.
Storm Jameson was always politically active, helping to publish a
Marxist journal in the British section of the International Union of
Revolutionary Writers in 1934 and attending anti-fascist rallies.
