Struggling hack Gordon Scott-Thompson is commissioned to write the biography of veteran novelist and inveterate snob, Jimmie Fane. The task is fraught with unforeseen difficulties, not the least of which are Fane's many pet hates, including younger men with moustaches and trendy pronunciation. Needless to say, young Gordon has a moustache and isn't particular about his pronunciation. Fane's wife Joanna isn't yet sure what she feels about moustaches, but has decided views on younger men. It will all boil down to the issue of advances. Will Gordon forego his facial hair for a handsome advance from his publisher? Or will Joanna's advances on his person complicate things inordinately? With his deliciously wicked wit and keen sense of social friction, Kingsley Amis makes the going hard for a young man on his way up in the literary world.

"One of the best of Britain's post-war novelists . . . Kingsley Amis was a remarkable man and a remarkable writer." (The Independent, London)