Samuel Lock – författare

When Richard agrees to share a flat with Chuck, his life takes a strange new lurch. Chuck is enormous, ebullient, and more than a trifle camp. He's also violently jealous of Richard and his growing friendship with George. . . Set in the bedsitter world of South Kensington in 1950s, AS LUCK WOULD HAVE IT is a strikingly original first novel, told in a voice unlike any you have encountered in modern fiction. Since first publication in 1995, it has gained an extraordinary reputation and went on to win the Sagittarius Award for 1996. 'Strange and compelling' Edmund White OBSERVER 'Very odd and original' Alan Hollinghurst HAMPSTEAD & HIGHGATE EXPRESS (Books of the Year). 'A hilarious book. . . 'Rachel Cusk TIMES (Books of the Year) 'Vivid and peculiar. . Lock writes almost as elegantly as Alan Hollinghurst. . . . AS LUCK WOULD HAVE IT is memorable. ' Kate Kellaway, OBSERVER

Samuel Lock's first novel, AS LUCK WOULD HAVE IT, was acclaimed by the critics as one of the most strikingly original first novels for years and went on to win the Sagittarius Award. NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH, Lock's new novel, shares many of its qualities - an exact but curiously mysterious prose style, superb evocation of a time and place (in this case Chelsea's King's Road in the fifties), and range of deliciously eccentric characters. It is the story of Jason Callow, a mildly successful novelist, estranged from his wife and children. As Jason struggles to comprehend and overcome the inner crisis that grips him, he is observed by his neighbours, his family, his friends, all powerless, it seems, to alter the inexorable course of his destiny.

When Edwin Carpenter runs away from a brutal father and a rural life, he plans to begin a new life in 1950s Chelsea. But he has a terrible secret, a gripping compulsion: he steals, obsessively, without interest in financial gain, and stores the stolen possessions in his flat. Slowly Edwin struggles to cure himself, and with the help of his lover tries to reconcile himself with his past.

Step into the world of the 1950s Chelsea bedsit, where Richard – young, gay and struggling to find himself – meets the irrepressible Chuck.INTRODUCED BY ALAN HOLLINGHURSTWhen Richard agrees to share a flat with Chuck, his life takes a strange new lurch. Chuck is enormous, ebullient, and more than a trifle camp. He is also violently jealous of Richard and his growing relationship with George. Gentle, unworldly Richard is at risk of being overpowered - but he is an orphan with a tenacious desire to learn how to love.Deeply original, eccentric and funny, this is a story about finding family in a gay community and discovering who you really are.‘A hilarious book’ Rachel Cusk, The Times'An extraordinary novel by a genuinely original talent' Beryl Bainbridge'Expertly crafted, emotionally affecting and heroically unfashionable' Guardian