The Patrick Hamilton Appreciation Society discussion

I've heard good things about....


Only Lovers Left Alive (1964) by Dave Wallis

Has anyone read it?

Among pulp collectors, Only Lovers Left Alive was something of a holy grail for many years before a 2018 reprint by Valancourt 20th Century Classics.

I suspect it's not a great novel but it must be worth a read for fans of youthsploitation novels and 60s pop culture in general.

A sudden rash of suicides quickly spirals out of control, as all the adults do away with themselves in a wave of existential ennui. With the “oldies” dead, teenagers inherit the world, suddenly free to smash, loot and love as they like. Motorcycle gangs hold wild orgies in abandoned apartments and prowl through the shambles of disintegrating London in search of disappearing stocks of lipstick, gasoline and food, now the currency in a new world of unspeakable violence . . .

Dave Wallis’s chillingly convincing counter­culture classic Only Lovers Left Alive (1964) has counted the Rolling Stones, Jim Morrison and Jim Jarmusch among its many admirers. Unavailable for decades, it returns to print at last in this edition, which features a new introduction by Andrew Tullis and the original jacket photograph by Bruce Fleming.

“Arresting and terrifying . . . Will keep you pondering long after you put it down.” – New York World Telegram and Sun

“Taut detachment . . . irresistible narrative drive. Realized with brilliance and tough, intelligent restraint . . . An unusually ambitious feat of the imagination.”– New York Times

“Shockingly effective, with a real sense of danger.” – The Nation

“A shattering, sensational novel . . . a real original.” – Daily Express

“Grim and often macabre, this contemporary fantasy has a vigorous fertility of invention, rattling pace and dialogue that crackles with vitality.” – Birmingham Post