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Something to Answer for
Paperback
Published January 1, 2008
About the author
P.H. Newby
32 books22 followersPercy Howard Newby CBE (25 June 1918 – 6 September 1997) was an English novelist and broadcasting administrator. He was the first winner of the Booker Prize, his novel Something to Answer For having received the inaugural award in 1969.
Early life
P.H. Newby, known as Howard Newby, was born in Crowborough, Sussex on 25 June 1918 and was educated at Hanley Castle Grammar School in Worcestershire, and St Paul's College of Education in Cheltenham. In October 1939 he was sent to France to serve in World War II as a private in the Royal Army Medical Corps. His unit was one of the last to be evacuated. Afterwards he was sent to the Middle East and served in the Egyptian desert.
Career
Newby was released from military service in December 1942, and then taught English Literature at King Fouad University in Cairo until 1946.
From 1949 to 1978 he was employed by the BBC, beginning as a radio producer and going on to become successively Controller of the Third Programme and Radio Three, Director of Programmes (Radio), and finally Managing Director, BBC Radio.
His first novel, A Journey into the Interior, was published in 1946. He then returned to England to write. In the same year he was given an Atlantic Award in literature, and two years thence he received the Somerset Maugham Prize.
He was awarded a CBE for his work as Managing Director of BBC Radio.
Author, friend and colleague Anthony Thwaite in his obituary states: "P. H. Newby was one of the best English novelists of the second half of the century."
Early life
P.H. Newby, known as Howard Newby, was born in Crowborough, Sussex on 25 June 1918 and was educated at Hanley Castle Grammar School in Worcestershire, and St Paul's College of Education in Cheltenham. In October 1939 he was sent to France to serve in World War II as a private in the Royal Army Medical Corps. His unit was one of the last to be evacuated. Afterwards he was sent to the Middle East and served in the Egyptian desert.
Career
Newby was released from military service in December 1942, and then taught English Literature at King Fouad University in Cairo until 1946.
From 1949 to 1978 he was employed by the BBC, beginning as a radio producer and going on to become successively Controller of the Third Programme and Radio Three, Director of Programmes (Radio), and finally Managing Director, BBC Radio.
His first novel, A Journey into the Interior, was published in 1946. He then returned to England to write. In the same year he was given an Atlantic Award in literature, and two years thence he received the Somerset Maugham Prize.
He was awarded a CBE for his work as Managing Director of BBC Radio.
Author, friend and colleague Anthony Thwaite in his obituary states: "P. H. Newby was one of the best English novelists of the second half of the century."
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
September 19, 2025
Something To Answer For by P. H. Newby
This is the first work to have won the Booker Prize and the only winner of that prestigious award that is not available in print now.
Starting with an early conclusion, the under signed was not satisfied with the reading of this novel, abandoned continuous, serious reading after page 130 – out of 394 in electronic format – and skipped through the remaining narrative.
It might have been a considerable mistake, given the aforementioned award that purports this is one of the best books written and published in 1968, if not the best and the possibility that the plot can be untangled, with some effort.
The debut of the narrative is promising, as the hero, Townrow travels to Egypt, or the United Arab Republic, as it is called ever since Nasser came to power and the former colonial power, the British Empire, has been replaced by a nationalist government lead by a “revolutionary colonel”.
The former friend of the protagonist, Elie Khoury has died, assassinated if we are to believe his widow, but on the other hand, he may still be alive, if we look at the same Mrs. Khoury and the testimony she would later make that she has seen her husband…
The widow invites Townrow to Egypt, pays for his ticket and after accepting the proposal, the hero flies to Rome first, where he is approached by an angry Israeli, who condemns Britain, the BBC for not informing the Jews of the upcoming holocaust, of which they had known in 1942.
Nevertheless, the hero is not anti, he is pro-Semitic, favoring especially Jewish women, with whom, he has had a few affairs and is about to have another feverous, tense, outré, consuming relationship, after he meets Leah, the daughter of Mrs. Khoury’s lawyer.
As soon as he lands in Cairo, the protagonist jokes with the customs officials, ends up in jail for some hours, is late in Port Said, where he visits a bar that he had used to go to when he had been stationed there, meeting Christous, the owner who offers drinks and then seems to attack the hero.
This is where the narrative becomes somewhat surrealist – which might suit descriptions of UAR just fine – on a visit there, this reader found it rather eerie, there have been some experiences that make the events of this book seem rather reasonable.
After the visit and the drinking in the bar, Townrow wakes up in…the desert, naked, out of town, where first one man riding a donkey hits him with a stick, then other men whip him, adding to the injuries that he had suffered from and calling the police, who take him into custody…again.
The interrogating officers laugh at the story of the poor man, asking what would he do, if he met a stranger, naked, on his way somewhere, adding that the fact that he was helpless, naked, hurt and then abused even more is…well, humorous.
This is all good and nice, only it is difficult – at least for the undersigned it was – to make head or tail of what has happened so far and of the upcoming events, which are surrounded in mystery, since the hero does not know what hit him, if he is Irish or British.
It is mirthful – up to a point – to read about this confusion, for instance when the man is wondering if he is not actually Leah’s American husband, who is institutionalized in the US, because of a severe mental breakdown, sedated and given drugs that cost in excess of eight hundred dollars a dose – huge sum for the fifties.
There are some bizarre tales, unexplainable and difficult to assess in their credibility, like the story of Mrs. Khoury and her voyage to Lebanon, where she had taken the body of her late husband, evading the Egyptian authorities – locals are sometimes called gypos- who would not allow a corpse to be taken out of the country, for fear that mummies would be smuggled out, only to find that Lebanon does not accept dead bodies to enter its territory.
This trip made the new leader of Egypt take the bold step of taking control of the canal from the British, but this account seems more than farfetched, the political decision must have had very little to do with Mrs. Khoury, if she indeed had sailed all the way to Lebanon.
The British, French and Israelis attack the UAR, after Nasser took the incredible step of nationalizing the Suez Canal, bombing airfields in Cairo and making the leaders of the Army in Port Said arrest Townrow and Leah on charges of espionage and being secret agents, although when asked to clarify what is the difference between one and the other, it is not clear which is more dangerous.
The main problem for this novel – there seems to be another note on the site of The Guardian which mentions bafflement – is the lack of clarity, the need to understand what happens with the hero- he does not know.
In one scene, Townrow seems to be with Leah, sailing near the port, where some stupid soldier fires his gun at the crowd bathing in the sea, aggrieved because they did not have the proper clothes – supposedly the hijab – and this is where Newby makes some very pertinent, insightful commentary on the prudishness of many Arab men, who feel threatened by the skin of women.
However, very soon it becomes again perplexing, for the two protagonist sail to the Greek Club, only for the hero to search for Leah and find her nowhere…when asking the guards, nobody saw her or any other Western looking woman…the moves from reality to dreams, hallucinations is so bewildering that it can become overwhelming…
This is the first work to have won the Booker Prize and the only winner of that prestigious award that is not available in print now.
Starting with an early conclusion, the under signed was not satisfied with the reading of this novel, abandoned continuous, serious reading after page 130 – out of 394 in electronic format – and skipped through the remaining narrative.
It might have been a considerable mistake, given the aforementioned award that purports this is one of the best books written and published in 1968, if not the best and the possibility that the plot can be untangled, with some effort.
The debut of the narrative is promising, as the hero, Townrow travels to Egypt, or the United Arab Republic, as it is called ever since Nasser came to power and the former colonial power, the British Empire, has been replaced by a nationalist government lead by a “revolutionary colonel”.
The former friend of the protagonist, Elie Khoury has died, assassinated if we are to believe his widow, but on the other hand, he may still be alive, if we look at the same Mrs. Khoury and the testimony she would later make that she has seen her husband…
The widow invites Townrow to Egypt, pays for his ticket and after accepting the proposal, the hero flies to Rome first, where he is approached by an angry Israeli, who condemns Britain, the BBC for not informing the Jews of the upcoming holocaust, of which they had known in 1942.
Nevertheless, the hero is not anti, he is pro-Semitic, favoring especially Jewish women, with whom, he has had a few affairs and is about to have another feverous, tense, outré, consuming relationship, after he meets Leah, the daughter of Mrs. Khoury’s lawyer.
As soon as he lands in Cairo, the protagonist jokes with the customs officials, ends up in jail for some hours, is late in Port Said, where he visits a bar that he had used to go to when he had been stationed there, meeting Christous, the owner who offers drinks and then seems to attack the hero.
This is where the narrative becomes somewhat surrealist – which might suit descriptions of UAR just fine – on a visit there, this reader found it rather eerie, there have been some experiences that make the events of this book seem rather reasonable.
After the visit and the drinking in the bar, Townrow wakes up in…the desert, naked, out of town, where first one man riding a donkey hits him with a stick, then other men whip him, adding to the injuries that he had suffered from and calling the police, who take him into custody…again.
The interrogating officers laugh at the story of the poor man, asking what would he do, if he met a stranger, naked, on his way somewhere, adding that the fact that he was helpless, naked, hurt and then abused even more is…well, humorous.
This is all good and nice, only it is difficult – at least for the undersigned it was – to make head or tail of what has happened so far and of the upcoming events, which are surrounded in mystery, since the hero does not know what hit him, if he is Irish or British.
It is mirthful – up to a point – to read about this confusion, for instance when the man is wondering if he is not actually Leah’s American husband, who is institutionalized in the US, because of a severe mental breakdown, sedated and given drugs that cost in excess of eight hundred dollars a dose – huge sum for the fifties.
There are some bizarre tales, unexplainable and difficult to assess in their credibility, like the story of Mrs. Khoury and her voyage to Lebanon, where she had taken the body of her late husband, evading the Egyptian authorities – locals are sometimes called gypos- who would not allow a corpse to be taken out of the country, for fear that mummies would be smuggled out, only to find that Lebanon does not accept dead bodies to enter its territory.
This trip made the new leader of Egypt take the bold step of taking control of the canal from the British, but this account seems more than farfetched, the political decision must have had very little to do with Mrs. Khoury, if she indeed had sailed all the way to Lebanon.
The British, French and Israelis attack the UAR, after Nasser took the incredible step of nationalizing the Suez Canal, bombing airfields in Cairo and making the leaders of the Army in Port Said arrest Townrow and Leah on charges of espionage and being secret agents, although when asked to clarify what is the difference between one and the other, it is not clear which is more dangerous.
The main problem for this novel – there seems to be another note on the site of The Guardian which mentions bafflement – is the lack of clarity, the need to understand what happens with the hero- he does not know.
In one scene, Townrow seems to be with Leah, sailing near the port, where some stupid soldier fires his gun at the crowd bathing in the sea, aggrieved because they did not have the proper clothes – supposedly the hijab – and this is where Newby makes some very pertinent, insightful commentary on the prudishness of many Arab men, who feel threatened by the skin of women.
However, very soon it becomes again perplexing, for the two protagonist sail to the Greek Club, only for the hero to search for Leah and find her nowhere…when asking the guards, nobody saw her or any other Western looking woman…the moves from reality to dreams, hallucinations is so bewildering that it can become overwhelming…
Displaying 1 of 1 review