Lions and Shadows
An Education in the Twenties
The novelist’s account of his college days and early formative friendships, now back in print.
Lions and Shadows is a captivating account of a young novelist’s development in the literary culture of 1920s Cambridge and London and of his experiences as he forged lifelong friendships with his peers W. H. Auden, Stephen Spender, and Edward Upward.
“That young man holds the future of the English novel in his hands.”–W. Somerset Maugham, after reading Lions and Shadows
The novelist’s account of his college days and early formative friendships, now back in print.
In 1938 the legendary Hogarth Press published the first of Christopher Isherwood’s autobiographical writings, Lions and Shadows. The book evokes the atmosphere of Cambridge as Isherwood knew it and describes his life as a tutor, a medical student, and a struggling writer. Above all, Lions and Shadows is a captivating account of a young novelist’s development in the literary culture of 1920s Cambridge and London and of his experiences as he forged lifelong friendships with his peers W. H. Auden, Stephen Spender, and Edward Upward.
"Here is the enchanting story of how a young man made himself into an important writer." The Saturday Review
"That young man holds the future of the English novel in his hands." W. Somerset Maugham, after reading Lions and Shadows
"Isherwood is the best prose writer in English." Gore Vidal
Related Publications
Where Joy Resides
A Christopher Isherwood Reader
A selection of Isherwood’s finest writing—now back in print!
Isherwood on Writing
A publishing event—Isherwood’s lectures on writing and writers, available for the first time.
Kathleen and Christopher
Christopher Isherwood’s Letters to His Mother
Isherwood’s previously unpublished letters to his mother cast his early years as a writer in a new light
A Meeting by the River
Isherwood’s final novel, bringing together his thoughts on gay identity and Eastern mysticism, now back in print.
The World in the Evening
The celebrated English writer’s first novel about Americans and their values, now back in print.
My Guru and His Disciple
The author’s fascinating account of his thirty-year spiritual quest, now back in print!
