The Ever-Interesting Topic

by William Cooper

Good+ Hardback without dust jacket. Sunned on spine. Some brown speckling on inner boards, end papers & prelims. Clean text. 252p.

253 pages, Mass Market Paperback

Published January 1, 1953

About the author

H.S. Hoff (William Cooper) was an English novelist, born in Crewe. After graduating from Christ's College, Cambridge in 1933 he became a science teacher in Leicester, an experience on which he seems to have drawn for his novel, Scenes from Provincial Life. Hoff served in the Royal Air Force in World War II, and later became a civil servant, associating closely with C. P. Snow, who appears in light disguise as Robert in Scenes from Provincial Life and its sequels. After retiring he held an academic position with Syracuse University, New York, lecturing on English literature to its students in London.

Hoff wrote four novels between 1934 and 1946 under his own name but made his reputation with his first novel under the pen name William Cooper, Scenes from Provincial Life (1950), the first of five more or less autobiographical novels published over the ensuing half century.

Hoff wrote 17 novels in all as well as short stories, two plays and a biography of his friend C.P.Snow. In 1971 he published an account of the trial of the Hosein brothers.

[from Wikipedia]

Reviews

[Srikanth Sreedharan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not, possibly an ever-interesting book. it is dated and slow. It is written in what was possibly a a gentle and satirical style which must have been popular in the fifties. The plot revolves around the petty politics of schoolmasters at Monteagle an ancient public school in England.
If you enjoy reading stylishly written prose and don't mind the slow plot you can try it. After all, we have waded through much worse writing, masquerading as literary stuff, only because the book was selected for a literary prize.

[Nicholas Beck · Rating 1 out of 5]

Satirical novel set in a boys school. The headmaster institutes a program of sex education into the school curriculum. Various teachers rebel and join forces to oust said headmaster. Displays a complete lack of literary ability, I had to wonder while reading this one how on earth the powers that be at Penguin had ever given the green light to publish this novel.