Writing in the Dark: Bloomsbury, the Blitz and Horizon Magazine

In WRITING IN THE DARK, Will Loxley conjures up the brooding world of London in 1939, where young writers and artists faced being sent to the front, and tells the story of the defiant magazine Horizon. Interweaving the personal histories of the magazine's leaders with their friends and contemporaries, the book captures the literary life of WWII, fusing the exhausted melancholy of the aftermath of the Blitz with changes in the writers' own lives.

Format: Hardback
Length: 400 pages
Publication date: 22 July 2021
Publisher: Orion Publishing Co

An army of bitchy, backstabbing, rivalrous literary greats inhabit this energetic history. Loxley's voice is energetic and enthused, and The Times likens his vignettes to being transported to various corners of London. Loxley's first chapter on Isherwood is one of the most engaging I've read, a measured and thoughtful debut. Daisy Dunn, The Literary Review, praises Loxley's deft touch, wit, and panoramic eye, which would have pleased Cyril Connolly himself. John Sutherland, author of Monica Jones, Philip Larkin, and Me, describes Loxley as having a "deft touch, wit, and a panoramic eye which would have pleased Cyril Connolly himself." A marvelous tour de force, written with energy and an eye for the spot-on detail, and creating a rich picture of culture, art, work, friendship, and love in a London going through extraordinary times. Sarah Bakewell, author of A t the Existentialist Cafe, praises Loxley's writing as "a marvelous tour d'Horizon, written with energy and an eye for the spot-on detail, and creating a rich picture of culture, art, work, friendship, and love in a London going through extraordinary times." Amid the sleepless nights of constant explosion and gunfire, and the discomfort, grief, and primordial fear, the little office at 6 Lansdowne Terrace seemed to hold intact everything that was great or beautiful about human life. As the streetlamps flickered out and lights were obscured behind brown-paper screens, a subdued atmosphere took hold of London in 1939. Cloistered in pubs and gloomy sitting rooms, London's young writers and artists faced being sent to the front, trading their paintbrushes and pens for the weapons of war. In WRITING IN THE DARK, Will Loxley conjures up this brooding world and tells the story of the defiant magazine Horizon, which sprang up against the odds. Interweaving the personal histories of the magazine's leaders - Cyril Connolly, Stephen Spender, and John Lehmann, with their friends and contemporaries Virginia Woolf, George Orwell, and Dylan Thomas, as well as many more names both familiar and not - Will brings us into these writers' homes and offices, revealing the intimate details of their lives and work. The result is a captivating and immersive portrait of a vibrant literary community in a time of great uncertainty and change.

Weight: 624g
Dimension: 164 x 244 x 40 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781474615709