Nick Guest, a young gay man obsessed with Henry James and aesthetic perfection, moves into the Notting Hill attic of the Fedden family during the height of the Thatcher era. As the guest of an ambitious Conservative MP, Nick navigates the social hierarchies of British high society, oscillating between his private sexual life and the Feddens’ public displays of power. The narrative tracks his hedonistic descent through cocaine and illicit affairs against the historical backdrop of the 1983 re-election and the emerging shadow of the AIDS epidemic.
Readers interested in the intersections of political hypocrisy and class mobility find a detailed anatomy of 1980s London here. The book serves those who value precise, rhythmic prose and the study of architectural and artistic aesthetics. A reader walks away with a clear understanding of how wealth insulates the powerful from scandal until the political climate shifts, and how the pursuit of pure beauty often masks the rot of social exclusion and physical decay.
Deep and thought-provoking; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Deep Diver. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 2004
- Language
- EN
