OH, MARY, THIS LONDON

by Michael Campbell ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 5, 1962

This is a highly improbable but amusing story of a young middle-class Irishman, a solicitor by profession, a teacher by necessity, who came to London in the recent past in search of Life, or as he puts it, ""to gain enlightenment and escape provincialdom"". Convinced that the English are hopelessly dull, he is spurred on by the arrival of his enthusiastic friend, Charles Ferguson, who insists that they begin operations by renting a too-expensive flat in Mayfair. Their first major sally into what they suppose is ""society"" is a dismal flop but their positions become reversed and it is now Peter Gavin who manages to recoup forces for further assaults on ""experience"" -- in phoney, quaint country pubs, amid the squalor of what seems to represent the Angry Young Man set, in the entertainment world and from there, inevitably, to the underworld. Eventually, Peter learns a simple lesson -- that even the commonplace has astonishing things to offer and his search for experience was all the while a search for himself. Michael Campbell writes with definite zest and his irreverences are, for the most part, not misplaced.

Pub Date: March 5, 1962

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Orion

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1962

Categories: FICTION