'Each of the novels in Alms for Oblivion is an elegant morality tale, beautifully composed, sparkling with appreciation of the sheer limitless variety of human wickedness' TLS

Simon Raven's sequence of colourful and funny novels about the English upper-class misbehaving continues against a backdrop of intrigue in Athens, radicalism in Cambridge, turmoil in India and movie-making in Corfu. Dazzlingly witty and thoroughly depraved, Raven's world is also a dark mirror to our times - one that is sure to make you blush, shriek, laugh out loud and always read on.

Volume 2: The Judas Boy, Places Where they Sing, Sound the Retreat and Come Like Shadows

'The Alms for Oblivion series steers its way its stylish course somewhere between Fleming and Waugh' Guardian

A dazzling sequence of novels about the English misbehaving at home and abroad

About the Author
Author Simon Raven was perhaps known as much for his controversial behaviour as for his writing. He grew up reading and studying the classics, translating them from Greek and Latin into English and vice-versa. He was expelled from Charterhouse School in 1945 for homosexual activities, having first been seduced at the age of nine by the games master (an experience he described as giving 'immediate and unalloyed pleasure") and went on to join the army. Following his National Service, Raven attended King's College, Cambridge to read English. Raven later returned to the army but was asked to resign rather than face a court-martial for 'conduct unbecoming.' It was at this point that he turned his focus to writing. The publisher Anthony Blond paid Raven to write and to move away from London to Deal, Kent. His works span a multitude of genres including fiction, drama, essays, memoirs and screenplays. Simon Raven died in May 2001, having written his own epitaph: "He shared his bottle - and, when still young and appetising, his bed."

Reviews
Each of the novels in Alms for Oblivion is an elegant morality tale, beautifully composed, sparkling with appreciation of the sheer limitless variety of human wickedness * TLS *
Turn to Raven and revel in his mischievious, malicious world * Observer *
A ready made cult waiting to be discovered * Spectator *
His world is as original and surrealist as P. G. Wodehouse's, an alligator swamp in the homely back garden where all manner of nasty things hatch out * Guardian *
Brisk, bawdy and reckless * Evening Standard *
An extraordinary novelist...magnificent * Mail on Sunday *
Confident, worldly-wise, insolently comic... a highly entertaining narrative style * Sunday Times *



Book Information
ISBN 9780099561330
Author Simon Raven
Format Paperback
Page Count 848
Imprint Vintage Classics
Publisher Vintage Publishing
Weight(grams) 560g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 128mm * 42mm