Nocturne

Frank Swinnerton's Nocturne is a finely observed novel of modern life, praised by H.G. Wells for its clarity, realism, and emotional precision. Wells presents Swinnerton as a writer who sees and tells without forcing a message, creating living characters rather than mere surfaces, and celebrates the novel as a mature achievement of honesty, tenderness, and control. The story opens on a dark evening near Westminster Bridge, where Jenny rides a crowded tram through the smoke and glow of London, caught between boredom, vanity, and a restless hunger for something larger than her ordinary life. In the mirror of the window she finds a romantic version of herself, while the shifting city streets reveal her changing moods and the private dramas she invents from everyday moments. Returning home to Kennington Park, she enters a cramped domestic world ruled by routine, where her sister Emmy shoulders the burden of caring for their frail, aging father, Pa. The sisters' relationship is marked by affection, resentment, and sharp contrast: Jenny is quick, mobile, witty, and adventurous, while Emmy is harder-edged, more burdened, and more easily wounded. When Jenny sets out in a car toward Keith, the journey becomes a thrilling mix of speed, pride, fear, and unspoken love, ending at Westminster with Big Ben's strike and a waiting dinghy below the steps. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.