Set in 1939, on the eve of World War II, the novel follows George Harvey Bone, a lonely, alcoholic man living in London's Earl's Court, who is infatuated with a manipulative small-time actress, Netta. George suffers from a form of split personality disorder, which leads him into periods of 'dead moods' where he contemplates murdering Netta. The book paints a grim picture of pre-war London, filled with despair, failed ambitions, and the looming threat of a global conflict.
The 4710th greatest book of all time
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
He was born Anthony Walter Patrick Hamilton in the Sussex village of Hassocks, near Brighton, to writer parents. Due to his father's alcoholism and financial ineptitude, the family spent much of Hamilton's childhood living in boarding houses in Chiswick and Hove. His education was patchy, and ended just after his fifteenth birthday when his mother withdrew him from Westminster School.
