Hemlock and After



Hemlock and After is a 1952 novel by British writer Angus Wilson; it was his first published novel after a series of short stories. The novel offers a candid portrayal of gay life in post-World War II England.

Plot introduction
Bernard Sands, a prominent writer who has been given financial aid to start a writer's colony at Vardon Hall, faces a failing marriage, attempts to come to grips with his homosexuality and lives next door to a procuress for paedophiles.

Characters in Hemlock and After

 * Bernard Sands, the protagonist; a homosexual
 * Ella, Bernard's wife
 * Elizabeth, the Sandses' daughter
 * James, the Sandses' son
 * Charles, a friend of Bernard; a senior civil servant
 * Mrs Curry, the Sands's neighbour; a procuress for pedophiles
 * Hubert Rose, an architect and a pedophile

References to other works

 * Angus Wilson said in an interview that the ending of the novel was Dickensian.

Trivia
The novel was written in only four weeks.