A Hair Divides

Gordon Rutherford, a young writer, finds himself in a dangerous dilemma when he is the only witness to the accidental death of an acquaintance. Because of the strange circumstances of the case, Rutherford knows that if he goes to the police he will almost certainly be accused of murder. But if he disposes of the body and conceals the accident, he will destroy any chance of proving his innocence. The terrible decision Rutherford is forced to make – and the even more terrible consequences that follow – form the plot of this intriguing novel, a mystery unlike any you have ever read. 


Claude Houghton (1889-1961) gained a cult following in the 1920s and ’30s with his unusual psychological thrillers and counted Henry Miller, Hugh Walpole, J.B. Priestley, and Graham Greene among his many admirers. This first-ever reprint of A Hair Divides (1930), originally published the same year as his masterpiece I Am Jonathan Scrivener, reproduces the original dust jacket illustration and joins four other classic Houghton novels also available from Valancourt.


“Combines originality with intelligence, displaying, particularly, great gifts of imagination and psychological insight … a new type of thriller … one of the best pieces of work in English fiction of recent years … a first class novel.” – Saturday Review


“Surely one of the most original of English writers who have established themselves since the War. In the plainest sense his books are like no one else’s … always the most vivid of story tellers.” – The Times


“One of the most interesting and one of the most important novelists now writing in England.” – Hugh Walpole


“He is an extremely interesting novelist, and a genuinely original one.” – J.B. Priestley