Soho Press

An English art school Casanova wrestles with his personal demons in this jazzy, sexy and seemingly autobiographical first novel by the author of Get Carter

Victor Graves is in his last year at Hull Art School. The handsome pianist for a jazz ensemble that plays the local pub circuit, Victor has a way with words and women, but struggles with personal demons—alcohol chief among them—that increasingly get the better of him. But Victor’s wildness meets its match in the gorgeous and sensitive Janet, whose hard-to-get routine awakens in Victor a desire to leave-off his rakish ways.

But Victor’s caddish life as top man on campus comes screeching to a halt after graduation, when booze, lack of focus, and deep-seated insecurities slowly get the better of him. Jobless and increasingly alienated from Janet and his friends, Victor lets his misanthropic tendencies grow stronger, until they are unbearable. All the Way Home and All the Night Through is a stirring portrait of a young man inadvertently tearing down himself and those he holds dear.