The Unspeakable Skipton

By Pamela Hansford Johnson and Pamela Hansford-Johnson

Book Overview

From the prolifically gifted Pamela Hansford Johnson, neglected peer of Evelyn Waugh and Muriel Spark, comes "a maliciously witty account of literary skulduggery and lofty pretensions, set in Johnson's beloved Bruges." (The Telegraph)

It's not easy being a genius. Just ask Daniel Skipton, the greatest--or, let us say, the most under-recognized--novelist of his generation. Skipton is only a few revisions away from finishing his masterpiece: a satire of literary London that will humiliate his enemies and make him as famous, and as rich, as he deserves. Yet, in the meantime, he is forced to scrape by in obscurity and self-imposed exile amid the deserted canals of Bruges, barely surviving on a regimen of blackmail, bullying, persistence, and native charm.

One afternoon at a local cafe, he encounters the acclaimed playwright Dorothy Merlin and her entourage--worldly tourists on the lookout for erotic adventure and in need of a local guide. Soon they are joined by an even juicier target, a Venetian count who dreams of singing on the English stage and who will spend anything to make his dream come true. Or so he leads Skipton to believe.

Too long out of print in the U.S., Pamela Hansford Johnson's comic masterpiece The Unspeakable Skipton belongs on the shelf beside the best work of Nancy Mitford and Muriel Spark. As Michael Dirda writes in his foreword, it is "a dark chocolate treat, deliciously witty and bittersweet."

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1961341387
• ISBN13: 9781961341388
• Release Date: September 2025
• Publisher: McNally Editions
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.71 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.0" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Classic social comedy still funny after 50 years

The noted academic & novelist Pamela Hansford Johnston wrote The Unspeakable Skipton in 1959, when the world was a very different place. I first read the book about 20 years ago, and again this week. I enjoyed it greatly both times. Although it is part of a loose trilogy, it is complete in itself. The novel certainly doesn't appear anti-feminist to me. Indeed, most of the male characters are shown to be more or less incompetent rogues completely without awareness of any kind - especially self-awareness. The ladies are treated relatively generously, to my mind. And if the Australian woman poet is based on the person that I suspect, then she has got off very lightly indeed!

Entertaining but unremarkable

I would really offer this review only 3.5 stars, if such were allowed. I found the authors style quite engaging, and enjoyed the read very much, but the overall content and story were not particularly stellar. I had hoped for something along the lines of Saki (H.H. Munroe) but such was not to be. If there is ever a dearth of literature in my 'to read' pile I shall consider more by this author, but probably not until then...

Solid Satire

Daniel Skipton, a British writer of limited talent and possibly even more limited success, pretends to himself and the world that he is a great writer. He is, in fact, a liar, a chiseler, a boor, and a swindler, as his conduct over the week or so covered in this novel demonstrates. Skipton is ruined in the end, of course. I do think that the novel had been better had any of the major characters been at all sympathetic; as it is, only Lotte, Skipton's landlady's daughter, who knits socks for him and brings his meals to his room is at all appealing.

funny (if you have a sense of humor)

I'm halfway through this book. It's hilarious. Veryvivid. I've never read anything quite like it. Thefact that grumpy idealogues are denouncing it here is a sign of how wickedly funny it is. (Grumpy idealoguesare oblivious to funny, but they have a good nose forwickedness.)

entertaining if very light weight

I can understand why this book is not particularly popular; it is certainly not the first book one should read of Johnson. But it does have its moments, and could reasonably compare to humorous genre fiction and light romance. But if you can get into it, it's not so bad, and I for one was not offended by it.