His key postwar work. A quarter-century ahead of its time in its portrayal of a quotidian homosexual life, it inspired a generation of gay writers in Britain and the US
Independent

His key postwar work. A quarter-century ahead of its time in its portrayal of a quotidian homosexual life, it inspired a generation of gay writers in Britain and the US
Independent

This mix of humour and stoicism in the face of pent-up grief is essential Isherwood
Guardian

This mix of humour and stoicism in the face of pent-up grief is essential Isherwood
Guardian

His own highly personal form of fiction [is one] in which simple sentences strike a note of great intimacy with the reader as if to a close personal friend, and a sense of total honesty is sought. This style, witty, observant, nostalgic, exact, was Isherwood's great contribution to modern literature
Financial Times

His own highly personal form of fiction [is one] in which simple sentences strike a note of great intimacy with the reader as if to a close personal friend, and a sense of total honesty is sought. This style, witty, observant, nostalgic, exact, was Isherwood's great contribution to modern literature
Financial Times

He had dazzling talents as a writer. His literary production was pre-eminent for its wit, humour, charm of style and narrative skill... A Single Man can be almost considered as his masterpiece
Guardian, John Lehmann

He had dazzling talents as a writer. His literary production was pre-eminent for its wit, humour, charm of style and narrative skill... A Single Man can be almost considered as his masterpiece
Guardian, John Lehmann

The best prose writer in English
Gore Vidal

Very sad and yet at times wildly funny
The Daily Telegraph,

An absolutely devastating, unnerving, brilliant book
Stephen Spender,

A testimony to Isherwood's undiminished brilliance as a novelist.
Anthony Burgess

One of the best novels of the modern gay liberation movement.
Edmund White

Lyrical and intensely moving
Daily Telegraph

Angry and affecting
Independent on Sunday

A sad, sly report on the predicament of the human animal
New York Times

Lyrical and intensely moving
Daily Telegraph

Angry and affecting
Independent on Sunday

Kate Wilson 18 July 2011

A book which demonstrates the bleak and often darkly funny consequences of a life lead alone, Isherwood's work deftly conveys the experience of one man's grief after the loss of love.

The novel follows the life of George Falconer, an English professor in sumptuous 1960s California, after his world has been irreconcilably changed by loss. Combining subtle prose on the nature of loneliness with an account of George's distinctly inexpert attempts at forming and maintaining new relationships, this book provides a humorous and ultimately moving chronicle of the way we deal with that which is inevitable - our own company.

After reading this novel while travelling alone, I cannot recommend it highly enough for the sheer beauty and power of Isherwood's language. A truly life-affirming read.