Where is My Mask of an Honest Man?

Where is my Mask of an Honest Man? is a powerful, Pinteresque collection of short stories set in and around Notting Hill, London W11. Though the stories share a common setting, they deal with a wide variety of issues and range from stark realism to the surreal.

‘Dark Angel’, part 1 set in 1951 and part 2 in 1982, could be seen as the author’s commentary on her debut novel The Furnished Room, filmed by Michael Winner. It covers similar ground but now seen through the prism of the author’s wickedly evolved style.

This and a few other stories feature Joseph Kuhlman a ‘hip descendant of a tribe of lying prophets and psychotic visionaries’, who may know more about the murder of Father Quinlan with a ballpoint pen. Yet, in other stories, it’s the perk of the reader to decide whether he is the patient or the doctor.

‘J Krissman in the Park’ deals with the travails of an ageing writer, contemplating his rejections while surrounded by happy families in a park.

‘The Professor A Katz Memorial Evening’ is a hilarious account of Elizabeth Woolacott, a large-boned, energetic woman, giving a talk to mathematicians.

The title story, the longest, is perhaps the most autobiographical. In it 78-year-old Joan Byker develops a severe crush on her 38-year-old landlord, Harry Brightling. Set in the present day, the story is again beautifully observed, and you feel you’re there with Joan and Harry in the key scene on the roof of Vernon Crescent. Their conversations keep taking you by surprise.

Laura’s skill in describing people and her gift for writing dialogue makes this a collection full of breathtakingly observations about life.

Laura Del-Rivo was born in 1934 into a well-to-do family in Cheam, Surrey. She became part of a loose group of writers that included Colin Wilson, Alexander Trocci and Bill Hopkins. Laura certainly benefited from this stimulating company and burst onto the literary scene in 1961 with her debut novel The Furnished Room. It was hailed by Colin Wilson as 'one of the significant novels of the 1960s'. In 1963 The Furnished Room was turned into a film, West 11, by the late Michael Winner, starring Alfred Lynch, Eric Portman, Kathleen Breck and Diana Dors. The Furnished Room, originally published by Hutchinson & Co, was republished by Five Leaves Press in 2011. The review in the Guardian called it 'an evocative taste of black-coffee blues'. Laura's other novels include Daffodil on the Pavement and more recently Speedy and Queen Kong, which was published by Paupers' Press in 2004.