Perhaps it was strange that George Gaymer should have become a friend of Henry Fortescue at Oxford in the last years of the 19th century. Politically they were poles apart. Henry, already President of the Union, had a brilliant future before him; George was good hearted but mediocre. Above all, Henry was a homosexual; George was not. Yet George's loyal friendship stood many tests across more than forty years, and was reliable when that of Henry's own kind proved transitory or even treacherous. Absorbed in Eastern politics and Empire problems, Henry suppressed his homosexual inclinations. Regarding discretion as impossible, he chose complete self-denial, for he had no intention, as he once confided to George, of walking about on thin ice. Thus, for years after he got into Parliament, he was caution incarnate. But his failure to gain Cabinet office was so bitter a disappointment that, in search of some anodyne, he was tempted to throw discretion to the winds. As the scene changes from London to Morocco, from Hampshire to Kenya, and then to the Seychelles and Somerset, we follow the course of Henry's life through the perplexed, often apprehensive, eyes of George Gaymer. And we cannot but admire Compton Mackenzie's extraordinarily delicate handling of his theme, the skill with which he evokes the passage of eventful years and maintains suspense to the very end. Seldom have his outstanding gifts as a novelist been displayed to such advantage.22:T59d,

Michael Fane arrives in the thin red house in Carlington Road to his new family of Nurse, Cook, Annie the housemaid, his younger sister Stella, and the occasional presence of Mother. From here, the novel follows the next twenty years of his life as he tries to find his place in the upper echelons of Edwardian society, through prep school, studies at Oxford, and his emergence into the wide world. The setting is rich in period detail, and the characters portrayed are vivid and more nuanced in their actions and stories than first impressions imply.

Sinister Street was an immediate critical success on publication, although not without some worry for its openness to discuss less salubrious scenes, and it was a favourite of George Orwell and John Betjeman. Compton Mackenzie had attended both St. James’ school and St. Mary’s College at Oxford and the novel is at least partly autobiographical, but for the same measure was praised as an accurate portrayal of that experience; Max Beerbohm said “There is no book on Oxford like it. It gives you the actual Oxford experience.” Although originally published in two volumes (in 1913 and 1914) for commercial reasons, the two form a single novel and have been brought back together again for this edition.

23:T443,"Compton Mackenzie was already a celebrated writer at the start of the First World War, commissioned into the Royal Marines, He soon found himself recruited by the British Secret Service, becoming 'our man in Greece'. After the war, Mackenzie cashed in on the experience, writing a series of memoirs. Greek Memories, due to be published in November 1932, was the third and by far the most revealing. Breaking every rule in the book, Mackenzie included secret letters and documents, named serving SIS officers, exposed the cover used by agents in foreign capitals and revealed the real name of the wartime chief of the British Secret Service - Mansfield Cumming. This was a step too far for the authorities. Mackenzie was hauled before the courts and Greek Memories was banned - not a single copy went on sale. Greek Memories was eventually re-published in 1939, stripped of all controversial material, but the original remained banned. Now, for the first time, here is Mackenzie's memoir as it should have been told - uncensored, unrestricted and with no holds barred."--Publisher's website.15:[["$","script",null,{"type":"application/ld+json","dangerouslySetInnerHTML":{"__html":"{

Books by Sir Compton Mackenzie