A Play of Passion

It is 1940 and Paul Grimmer, as awkward and confused as any adolescent can be, is plunged into the sophisticated and very adult world of the Maddermarket theatre. Here he comes under the spell of its renowned director, Nugent Monck.

In A Play of Passion David Holbrook beautifully portrays the fierce intensity of adolescence in all its bewildered innocence, and his re-creation of the character of Nugent Monck is a triumph. Monck made his theatre, but saw himself as its servant, too: he loved the arts, and he loved young people, and he had the rare capacity to open up each to the other.

David Holbrook was born in Norwich in 1923. He is married with four children and currently lives in Cambridge. He is best known for his books on the teaching of English. He has also published ten novels, seven volumes of poetry, and numerous books of literary criticism.

‘David Holbrook has a Dickensian relish for descriptive detail; the bombing raids, the Maddermarket scenes come alive.’
– Daily Telegraph

‘… a book to be warmly recommended locally if one has any feel for Norwich let alone that little black and white theatre up the alley.’
– Eastern Daily Press