The scene is 1920s Kensington and Philip and Joan are testing the very limits of politeness and restraint as they fight to expunge the oppression of their mother - by whatever means necessary. In his first novel, Christopher Isherwood paints an intimate portrait of the battle between old and young as he explores the destruction of a son by a domineering parent.

Christopher Isherwood was born in 1904. He began to write at university and later moved to Berlin, where he gave English lessons to support himself. He witnessed first hand the rise to power of Hitler and the Nazi party in Germany and some of his best works, such asMr. Norris Changes TrainsandGoodbye to Berlin,draw on these experiences. He created the character of Sally Bowles, later made famous as the heroine of the musicalCabaret. Isherwood travelled with W.H Auden to China in the late 1930s before going with him to America in 1939. He died on 4 January 1986. His novelA Single Manwas recently made into an award-winning film by Tom Ford, starring Colin Firth and Julianne Moore.

Christopher Isherwood's debut novel which features the first generation of Angry Young Men