Although he considers himself more a poet than a novelist, Barry Cole writes exceptionally precise and enjoyable prose. His novels involve colorful but very realistic people in familiar situations and surroundings, usually centered in London. Cole catches the essence of British life in the late 1960s and early 1970s in a style that is witty and fresh.

A Londoner all his life, Barry Cole was born in Woking, Surrey, on 13 November 1936, the eldest of five children of Jennifer Ryder and Leslie Herbert Cole. His father, the son of a self-made antique dealer, was rather a jack-of-all-trades; his mother was the daughter of a Durham coal miner. The family was quite poor while Barry was growing up, and he left Balham Secondary School at age fifteen in order to supplement the family income. Brief summaries of Cole's life often emphasize the early termination of his formal schooling, sometimes even...