Bell Boy

by James Hamilton-Paterson

Set in the imaginary Far Eastern holy city of Malomba,the city of 37 different religins. The Bell Boy is the story of the bohemian Hemony family and Laki, the shrewd and winning bell-boy of the title. The tragi-comic story of their mutual exploitation involves financial extortion and psychic surgery.Beautifully written, the novel is alive with the sights, sounds and scents of the East, and the juxtapositions between and mutual expectations of Eastern and Western cultures.

180 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

James Hamilton-Paterson is a British poet, novelist, and one of the most private literary figures of his generation. Educated at Exeter College, Oxford, he began his career as a journalist before emerging as a novelist with a distinctive lyrical style. He gained early recognition for Gerontius, a Whitbread Award-winning novel, and went on to write Ghosts of Manila and America’s Boy, incisive works reflecting his deep engagement with the Philippines. His interests range widely, from history and science to aviation, as seen in Seven-Tenths and Empire of the Clouds. He also received praise for his darkly comic Gerald Samper trilogy. Hamilton-Paterson divides his time between Austria, Italy, and the Philippines and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2023.