Stanley and the Women

First edition. 8vo. 256pp. Red cloth boards, lettered in silver to spine. Jacket illustration by Alistair Taylor (priced £8.95 on front flap).

Spine ends bruised with boards partially detached in a couple of places but still holding, centre of lower board somewhat dented at base; contents clean and sound. Author ephemera laid in.

A savage comedy about a man confronting his son's mental illness whilst detecting all-round conspiracies hatched against him by women, past and present in his life. Stanley comes to think that insanity might be a condition inherent 'in the female of the species'. Amis's son, Martin, called the book "a mean little novel in every sense, sour, spare, and viciously well-organized," although Anthony Burgess labelled it "Amis at his best." Adapted by Nigel Kneale as a four-part ITV mini-series in 1991, with John Thaw in the title role.