The Black Prince (1973)
'Every artist is an unhappy lover. An unhappy lovers want to tell their story.'
Bradley Pearson, an unsuccessful novelist, has finally left his office job and hopes to retire to the country, but predatory friends and relations dash his hopes of a peaceful retirement. He is tormented by his melancholic sister, who has decided to come live with him; his ex-wife, who has infuriating hopes of redeeming the past; her delinquent brother, who wants money and emotional confrontations; and Bradley’s friend and rival, Arnold Baffin, a younger, deplorably more successful author of commercial fiction.
Both a great love story and a great detective story, the ever-mounting action includes marital cross-purposes, seduction, abduction, romantic idylls and murder. The Black Prince is a revelatory dark comedy with ingenious storytelling and aching truths.
