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

    Trivia

The novel was written in only four weeks.