The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold

"The very model of the modern paranoid novel."—John Leonard, New York Times

"Unblinking candor informs Waugh's dark, comic vision."—William Boyd, Daily Telegraph

"Waugh's 'portrait of the artist in middle age' . . . is a genuine gothic horror, a gargoyle to terrify anyone who has ever contemplated a literary career. . . . The acid bath so often prepared for others has now found its way into his own tub. . . . Waugh draws an intimate picture of a distinguished author at bay."—Gerald Sykes, New York Times Book Review

"The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold is a masterpiece of self-portraiture, one of the very best in English fiction."—John Bailey

"A masterpiece. . . . Waugh's clear-sightedness about himself . . . is something which, in this taut, brilliantly phrased and crafted story, is itself an assertion of order out of chaos."—A. N. Wilson