Description
‘Up there with Money and London Fields as the finest work he’s produced.’ Observer
*Shortlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction*
This remarkable novel gives the reader the intimate testimony of one of our finest writers.
Inside Story is the portrait of Martin Amis’ extraordinary life, as a man and a writer. This novel had its birth in a death – that of the author’s closest friend, Christopher Hitchens. We also encounter the vibrant characters who have helped define Martin Amis, from his father Kingsley, to his hero Saul Bellow, from Philip Larkin to Iris Murdoch and Elizabeth Jane Howard, and to the person who captivated his twenties, the alluringly amoral Phoebe Phelps.
What begins as a thrilling tale of romantic entanglements, family and friendship, evolves into a tender, witty exploration of the hardest questions: how to live, how to grieve, and how to die? The result is one of Amis’ greatest achievements: a love letter to life that is at once exuberant, meditative and heart-breaking, to be savoured and cherished for many years to come.
*A BOOK OF THE YEAR IN THE TIMES, NEW STATESMAN, IRISH TIMES and SPECTATOR*
‘The Mick Jagger of literature … Amis is the most dazzling prose stylist in post-war British fiction.’ Daily Telegraph
‘If you liked Experience, then you’ll love Inside Story.‘ Spectator