"If this is not a great book, then I don't know what greatness is."

--Edith Sitwell

"Originally published in 1959 and criminally out of print in the U.S. for years, this masterpiece from the English writer Pamela Hansford Johnson (1912-81) makes a welcome return . . . It has all the hallmarks of both a black comedy comprising carefully crafted scenes and a deft character study made up of painstakingly applied warts-and-all detail . . . Johnson's narrative is enlivened by its colorful cast . . . The book is powered, however, by its vividly drawn antihero . . . We could have been repelled by Skipton. He is a swindler, a snob and a savage misanthrope. But he is also so paranoid, deluded and consumed with self-loathing that throughout this caustically witty novel we can't help but root for him every step of the way."

--Malcolm Forbes, The Wall Street Journal

"A cheerful and amusing book . . . [Johnson's] wit is astringent, her gaze is clear and unafraid. She does not pose or preach, threaten or demand. Her style is admirably suited to her purpose, forceful, pointed but not vicious. And, having the vision of an artist, she shows us her all-too-human people pursuing their small but absorbing adventures in an enchanted city of bells and flowers and fun."

--Aileen Pippet, The New York Times

"Witty, satirical and deftly malicious."

--Anthony Burgess

"This once celebrated writer remains an intriguingly neglected figure . . . The Unspeakable Skipton [is] a maliciously witty account of literary skulduggery and lofty pretensions, set in Johnson's beloved Bruges . . . [Johnson's] novels are sharply observed, artfully constructed and always enlivened by the freshness of imagery that derives from her poetic beginnings."

--Miranda Seymour, Times Literary Supplement

"A remarkable craftswoman."

--A.S. Byatt

"Her best work . . . Hansford Johnson at her wittiest is Waugh mingled with Malcolm Bradbury. She deserves a revival."

--Ruth Rendell, The Sunday Telegraph

"Skipton is a superb comic creation."

--The New Statesman

"A brilliant and terrifying portrait of an artist whose obsession with his own work has driven him beyond the bounds of reason and sanity."

--Venetia Murray, Books and Bookmen

Publisher: McNally Editions

Pub date: 2025-09-09

Length: 240 pages