A literary cult hero of major proportions, James Purdy's exquisitely surreal fiction-Tennessee Williams meets William S Burroughs - has been populated for more than forty years by social outcasts living in crisis and longing for love. His acclaimed first novel, Malcolm, won praise from writers as diverse as Dame Edith Sitwell, Dorothy Parker, and Gore Vidal, while his later works, from the award-winning In a Shallow Grave to Gertrude of Stony Island Avenue, influenced new generations of authors.