A Voice Through a Cloud

US: Penguin Books Ltd, 1950. Paperback. Very Good. A copy that has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged. "A Voice through a Cloud" is English novelist Denton Welch's moving account of his recovery from a bicycling accident that left him partially paralyzed at the age of 20. Espouser of picnics and bicycle rides, cataloger of exquisite textures, pitiless surgeon of affect and mores, and also a pretty good painter, Denton Welch has drawn fans as far removed from his world of English pastoralism as William Burroughs and Richard Hell. Characterized by Welch's mercilessly acute powers of observation, "A Voice Through a Cloud" is a tour-de-force of both rigorous, detached self-analysis and clear-eyed external description, as Welch lies in a hospital bed, struggling with his illness and his relationships with family and doctor. Completed as Welch was dying 13 years later from complications resulting from the accident, and first published in 1950, "A Voice through a Cloud"'s pristine prose sparkles with gleaming surfaces, human motivations clearly perceived and a steadiness of tone and register. While "In Youth Is Pleasure" is probably Welch's best-loved book, and "Maiden Voyage" his most scandalous, "A Voice through a Cloud" is his masterpiece, containing his most accomplished writing.