'A classic.' - Susan Hill, author of "The Woman in Black" and "I'm King of the Castle"
'John Wain's best novel in a long time . . . an interesting story . . . stunning.' - "The Observer"
'John Wain's contribution to the gathering army of lone, upset figures is a notable one.' - William Trevor, "Books and Bookmen"
'Harrowing but deeply compassionate . . . marks a new and impressive development in Mr. Wain's writing.' "British Book News"
'This searching novel throws a critical spotlight on the life that the modern world compels us to lead.' - "Encounter"
Arthur Geary, a...

' A] triumph of mature observation and art.' - "Daily Telegraph"
'A winter's tale of light and laughter.' - "Sunday Times"
'What is especially enjoyable is the rough-edged tenderness and kindness of Mr Wain's concern ... probably his most substantial achievement to date.' - Robert Nye, "Saturday Times Review"
' S]ubstantial and serious ... sustains a vigorous narrative line - he has always been an excellent storyteller.' - "Times Literary Supplement"
' A] love affair between its author and North Wales itself.... It is a novel with its heart in the right place, and it knows...

The lost classic 'Angry Young Man' novel.

A clash of two temperaments. An artist and an industrialist grow up in the same smoky town and attend the same local school. In adult life each drives fiercely towards success in his own sphere, as much with an eye to outdoing the other as for any other reason. The struggle is watched through the tolerant eye of a non-competitive friend - until that eye becomes markedly less tolerant, the sub-plot becomes the main plot, and surprises pile up.

The lost novel, winner of the 1982 Whitbread Prize.

New life flowering from death, new perspectives arising from suffering, a new peace that comes from being tested to the uttermost. To 17 year old Paul Waterford life is beginning to seem a sour business, full of unsolved problems, unhappiness and general stress. Why did his young sister have to die in an air disaster? Why is his parents' marriage so evidently close to breaking up? Tired of the world as he sees it, Paul retreats into the fantasy of an ideal republic, the magnetic centre of his fantasies. But under the pressure of...