Young, gay, William Beckwith spends his time, and his trust fund, idly cruising London for erotic encounters. When he saves the life of an elderly man in a public convenience an unlikely job opportunity presents itself - the man, Lord Nantwich, is seeking a biographer. Will agrees to take a look at Nantwichs diaries. But in the story he unravels, a tragedy of twentieth-century gay repression, lurk bitter truths about Wills own privileged existence.

Alan Hollinghurstwas born in 1954. He is the author of one of the most highly praised first novels to appear in the 1980s,The Swimming-Pool Library, and was selected as one of the Best of Young British Novelists 1993. His second novel,The Folding Star, won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and was shortlisted for the 1994 Booker Prize. His novelThe Line of Beautywon the Booker Prize in 2004.

'Deserves first prize in every category... superbly written, wildly funny' - Daily Telegraph