The Dog at Clambercrown

The Dog at Clambercrown takes its name from a mysterious pub - seductive and frightening, never visited, only heard of that fascinates Brookes child narrator in this beautiful and utterly original work of autobiographical fiction. Both a journey through Europe and a return to the forbidden kingdoms of a Kentish childhood, the novel interweaves past and present as Brooke, responding to the magical potency of Abroad, summons the obsessions and terrors of his youth, and conjures an almost pagan vision of the English countryside even as he sits down to tea with the Sicilian mafia. First published in 1955, The Dog at Clambercrown epitomises what Anthony Powell termed as Brookes unique genre of reminiscence lightly touched with fiction. Disarmingly clever, deliciously opinionated and irrepressibly amusing, this neglected classic of gay literature is ripe for rediscovery. One of the most interesting and talented of contemporary writers Anthony Powell He is subtle as the devil John Betjeman Here is a writer possessed by the magicthe voodooof childhood New Statesman