IN YOUTH IS PLEASURE PB – DENTON WELCH

" Unlike any other person I had come across, Welch seemed to be speaking particularly to me Alan Bennett Vivid … surprising … an exquisite balance of pain and beauty Guardian Orvil Pym does not fit in. A waifish, eccentric, sensitive fifteen-year-old, he hates school and longs to be alone. Spending his Summer holidays in a genteel Surrey hotel with his mysterious father and two brothers who don t understand him, he explores ancient churches, spies on a man rowing in the river and collects antiques, escaping into his own singular aesthetic world. First published in 1945, this is an unforgettable portrayal of a young man s sensuous coming-of-age. A heightened, sensual journey … it is Orvil s vibrant energy that allows this book to bubble … beautifully odd … spectacular Independent"