A Man of Forty

Gerald Bullett

Sep 2011 · A&C Black

About this ebook

First published in 1940, this is the story of how young Adam Swinford, happily tipsy, forgets a weekend engagement in the country, and how in consequence his friend David Brome, waiting for Adam at Chiselbrook Station, gives a lift to beautiful Mary Wilton, with whom he falls in love. David is an outwardly comfortable, inwardly restive 40-year-old, retired on a Civil Service pension. Lydia, his nervous wife for 15 years, has a knack for making him feel stupid.

One spring day in the country after weeks of hovering, David finally gets a kiss from Mary, and confesses to Lydia, whom he cannot leave. David readily comes to realize that he must accept his ordeal. Meanwhile in London, smooth Adam Swinford is carrying on his affair with a pick up named Lily Elvers. But Adam gets tired of Lily about the time that she gets pregnant. And about the same time that the irresolute David begins to bore cool Mary, she meets Adam...

About the author

Gerald Bullett was a British man of letters (1893-1958). He was known as a novelist, essayist, short story writer, critic and poet, who wrote both supernatural fiction and some children's literature. Bullett was born in London and educated at Jesus College, Cambridge. After Cambridge Bullett began reviewing for The Times Literary Supplement and other journals, and then embarked on a career as an assiduous short-story writer and poet, small-time publisher, and editor and author of some forty published books. Bullett's 1932 detective novel I'll Tell You Everything was written jointly with J. B. Priestley. During World War II Bullett worked for the BBC in London, and radio broadcaster after the end of the War. He adapted his most popular novel The Jury as a screenplay filmed in 1956 re-named The Last Man to Hang?