20,000 Streets Under the Sky

20,000 Streets Under the Sky is a trilogy of semi-autobiographical novels by Patrick Hamilton.

20,000 Streets Under the Sky
1935 joint edition
with a quote by J. B. Priestley
  1. The Midnight Bell
  2. The Siege of Pleasure
  3. The Plains of Cement
AuthorPatrick Hamilton
CountryUnited Kingdom
DisciplineAutobiographical novel
PublisherConstable Press
Published1929–1934
Media typePrint
No. of books3
OCLC5723581

The three books are The Midnight Bell (1929), The Siege of Pleasure (1932) and The Plains of Cement (1934). They focus on three of the people who populate The Midnight Bell pub in London; the stories interconnect.[1][2]

The first book in particular contains autobiographical elements—Hamilton worked in London pubs before becoming a successful writer, was infatuated with a prostitute at that time, and eventually died of liver failure caused by alcoholism. The books are also notable for their portrayal of working class London in the inter-war period.[2]

The trilogy was published in paperback by Vintage in 2004 (ISBN 0-09-947916-8).

Synopsis

The Midnight Bell tells the story of Bob, a sailor turned bar waiter who becomes infatuated with Jenny, a prostitute who visits the pub. Ella, the barmaid at the pub, is secretly in love with Bob. In one of the most autobiographical[3] narratives Hamilton ever wrote, Bob squanders his life savings on Jenny, whose lack of interest in Bob (beyond his money) is painfully evident to all but Bob. Eventually, Jenny loses all interest once Bob has spent all his savings on her.

The Siege of Pleasure[4] is the shortest of the three stories, and recounts a little over twenty-four hours in Jenny's earlier life. She gets a new job as a housemaid to two elderly sisters, but later the same day along with her friend encounters three men in a bar. She elects to stand her erstwhile boyfriend up, gets drunk and is involved in a car accident where there is a possible fatality. The following morning, having spent the night in the home of one of the men, she determines not to go back to the sisters' employ. Bob and Ella do not feature at all in this novel.

The Plains of Cement[5] is set during the events in The Midnight Bell, with Ella as the focus. Ella, still nursing a sublimated affection for Bob, has to deal with the increasingly unwelcome (and not always comprehensible) advances of the lower-middle class Ernest Eccles, an elderly customer of the pub. She is torn between a possible escape from her dull routine and a potential marriage to a man she does not love. We are also introduced to Ella's mother, trapped in a loveless marriage to Ella's violent stepfather. One of the episodes is a replication of that in The Midnight Bell, but told from Ella's perspective. The narrative concludes one day after the final scene of The Midnight Bell.

A common theme across all three stories is Hamilton's use of "narrated monologue or free indirect discourse",[6] wherein a single character's thoughts (in this trilogy Bob, Jenny and Ella respectively) are reproduced directly through the third-person narrator. This is particularly evident in the third section, where Ella is attempting to interpret Eccles' semi-coherent intentions, from trying to work out if a bunch of flowers are for her, to an apparent proposal of marriage.

Adaptations

The 1963 film Bitter Harvest was based on the trilogy.[7]

In November 1989 the novels appeared on BBC Radio Four in three episodes, dramatised by Frederick Bradnum, featuring Steven Pacey, Annette Badland, Emily Morgan and John Moffatt.[8]

In 2005, the books were serialised as Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky starring Sally Hawkins, Zoe Tapper and Bryan Dick, and directed by Simon Curtis.[9] It was shown on BBC Four, accompanied by the documentary Words, Whisky and Women. The three-part drama was also released on DVD, HD DVD and Blu-ray.

References
  1. Harding, John (2007). Patrick Hamilton. Greenwich Exchange. p. 66. ISBN 9781871551990. Retrieved 23 December 2012.
  2. "Is the world ready for him? A new BBC documentary and serialisation look set to revive the profile of Patrick Hamilton". The Telegraph. 18 April 2005.
  3. Sean French, in his 1993 biography of Hamilton (London: Faber, ISBN 9780571143535) details the extent of Hamilton's use of his own experiences: in the novel, Jenny writes a brief letter to Bob after she fails to meet him yet again:
    "Dear Bob,
    No doubt you are through with me as I did not turn up today but Bob it was not my fault dear... And I have not had anything to eat all day dear as I have no money." (quoted by French, p. 95).
    In the Spring of 1928, in near-identical circumstances, Hamilton had received a letter from his prostitute girlfriend Lily which read:
    "Dearest Patrick
    ... Well dear I suppose by this time you are finished with me... I havent had anything to eat all day not even a cup of tea so you can see how I feel dearest." (p. 95)
  4. Originally titled A Glass of Port (French, p. 117)
  5. Titles Hamilton considered for this novel included Time Gentlemen Please, The Black Dispnser, All Out, There are Wheels Within Wheels and The Rain On the Roof (French, pp. 131-2)
  6. Harding (2007), p. 22
  7. Bitter Harvest at IMDb 
  8. Classic Serial: Twenty Thousand Streets under the Sky Retrieved 27 Nov 2021
  9. "Patrick Hamilton". www.nickhernbooks.co.uk. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
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