Following the death of a friend, British poet and pets' mortician Dennis Barlow finds himself entering the artificial Hollywood paradise of the Whispering Glades Memorial Park. Within its golden gates, death, American-style, is wrapped up and sold like a package holiday. There, Dennis enters the fragile and bizarre world of Aimée, the naïve Californian corpse beautician, and Mr Joyboy, the master of the embalmer's art...
A dark and savage satire on the Anglo-American cultural divide, The Loved One depicts a world where love, reputation, and death cost a very great deal.
This first edition includes illustrations by Stuart Boyle.
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Hardback, good condition. Plastic sleeve over jacket as the jacket has split at the spine. Blue cloth cover with gilt lettering on spine. Blue marbled end-papers. Inscription from previous owner on inner leaflet. Cover and pages are in excellent condition.
Published by Chapman & Hall, 1948. First Edition.