The Patrick Hamilton Appreciation Society discussion

We've got a host of top tips here in Hamiton-esque Books & Authors but here's a thread just to whack down any suggestions that you think your fellow Hamiltonians might enjoy

And 'Appy New Year one and all

I recently read A Quartet in Autumn by Barbara Pym. It’s one of her later books and has a more sombre atmosphere than those she’s famous for. I think it may appeal to Hamilton fans for the acutely observed interplay between characters in a humdrum / rather drab London setting. This is 1970s London but Pym was in her 60s when she wrote this so the perspective is retains early 20th century style. The quiet melancholy of people drifting through very ordinary lives and the petty grievances and snobberies between the four main characters are Hamiltonian in my opinion. This book has very much stayed with me and I highly recommend it.

Thanks Lucinda


I read Quartet a year or two ago and agree with everything you've posted. Definite Hamiltonian vibes and the kind of urban melancholy that I really connect with. I read other books by BP which were fine but Quartet is the one that really worked for me.

George Orwell’s Coming Up For Air ticks a significant number of boxes on the Hamiltonian checklist. Faint hope, drudgery, misplaced nostalgia, puzzlement at ‘progress’ frustration, and on the estinguishment of that faint hope, a shrugging acceptance of life as it is. Keep The Aspidistra Flying, probably my favourite Orwell novel, might be Coming Up For Air’s companion piece although slightly less bleak. I’ve always said that Roger Waters summed them up quite succinctly in his line, “Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way” a significant element of the Hamilton canon. That might go for Billy Liar too.

Top tips David which I wholeheartedly endorse. All firm faves especially Coming up for Air

I don't think many plough the same furrow that PH did, but several fall into the same "if you like that you'll probably like this" category.
The obvious names are Kersh, Baron, Balchin, La Bern, Maclaren-Ross, Westerby, and James Curtis, but there are loads more.
I've enjoyed a couple of Robin Maugham books The Line on Ginger and The Man with Two Shadows. The Servant is his most famous work, and I look forward to having a bash at Behind the Mirror too.
John Lodwick falls into the forgotten authors category but Pealof Ordnance is more than worth a look if you can pick up a cheap second-hand copy.
Turn the Key Softly by John Brophy was a huge surprise to me. I thought it would be a bit of a potboiler but it was very well written and has all of the obvious ingredients for a Hamilton fan, and a shiftily handsome ex RAF man for good luck.
Roy Fuller is another name that requires your attention, especially Fantasy and Fugue and Second Curtain, both of which are corkers.
I'm sure I'll think of loads more as soon as I press post, but they will have to wait for now.

Thanks so much CQM


Some new names for me to investigate there

Much appreciated 🫶🏻