Down There on a Visit

Four narrators, all known as 'Christopher Isherwood', in different locations and periods of time, paint portraits of their own private sexual hells

Four portraits, four settings, four narrators, all known as 'Christopher Isherwood'. Often regarded as the best of his novels, Down There on a Visit tells the vivid stories of Isherwood's life that, together with The Berlin Novels, were to have comprised his great unfinished epic novel.

Four portraits, four settings, four narrators, all known as 'Christopher Isherwood'.

Berlin, 1928. The Greek islands, 1932. London, 1938. California, 1940. Christopher is a tourist, both practically and spiritually, and these are his postcards home. Across the years, he roams restlessly in search of a place to belong and a way of life that is worth living. Which of the guides he encounters will bring meaning to his existence: the businessman, the utopian, the guru or the geisha? As Christopher grapples with the nature of his own future, the world around him marches on relentlessly, toward a future dark with war.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY PHILIP HENSHER

‘A deeply intelligent and quietly compelling story’ New York Times

‘Radiant with observation, never wasting a word, funny and sympathetic’ New Republic

‘This is the best of Mr Isherwood’s novels’ The Times