This examination of the part drink played in the lives and work of eleven writers shows how they described the private and social world of the drinker in their work, and how their own lives became increasingly dominated by alcohol. The writers that In Love with Hell deals with are Patrick Hamilton, Jean Rhys, Charles Jackson, Malcolm Lowry, Dylan Thomas, Elizabeth Bishop, John Cheever, Flann O’Brien, Anthony Burgess, Kingsley Amis, and Richard Yates.

“Sympathetic and wonderful perceptive biographies of eleven novelists and poets… a heart-breaking read if you have learned to love the writers Palmer covers.”
Nick Cohen, The Critic 

“… a masterful insider’s account of how alcohol ruined and sustained the careers of eleven writers.”
Jim Crace, New Statesman

“A beautifully written account…with fine descriptions of the writers, their work and the times they lived in.”
Piers Paul Read

“Vastly absorbing and entertaining.”
Andrew Davies

“It is an achievement to take on this subject and succumb to neither puritanism nor romanticising. In Love with Hell will send you not to the drinks cabinet but back to your bookshelves to rediscover the brilliance that Palmer’s writers couldn’t quite drown.”
Sarah Ditum, The Times

“An enjoyable exploration of an enduringly fascinating subject… Palmer is above all a dispassionate critic, and is always attentive to, and unwaveringly perceptive about the arts of his subjects as well as their relationship with alcohol.”
Soumya Bhattacharya, New Statesman