England in the middle of World War II a war that seems fated to go on forevera war that has become a way of life. Heroic resistance is old hat. Everythingis in ... » 

England in the middle of World War II a war that seems fated to go on forevera war that has become a way of life. Heroic resistance is old hat. Everythingis in short supply and tempers are even shorter. Overwhelmed by the rigors ofthe Blitz middleaged Miss Roach has retreated to the relative safety andstupefying boredom of the suburban town of Thames Lockdon from which shecommutes to a publishing job in London. She lives in a boardinghouse run byMiss Payne. There the savvy sensible decent but alltoomeek Miss Roachendures the gaseous speechifying and weird dinnertable interrogations of Mr.Thwaites and relieves her solitude by drinking and necking with a waywardAmerican lieutenant. Life is almost bearable until Vicki Kugelman a seemingfriend moves into the adjacent room. Thats when Miss Roachs troubles reallybegin.Recounting an epic battle of wills in the claustrophobic confines of theboardinghouse Patrick Hamiltons The Slaves of Solitude with itsdelightfully improbable heroine is one of the finest and funniest books everwritten about the trials of a lonely heart. «