Ian Hamilton

"One of my favorite new mystery series, perfect escapism."--Sarah Weinman, National Post The first book of an electrifying new series, Ian Hamilton's The Disciple of Las Vegas introduces Ava Lee: a deadly martial artist with a taste for luxury and a mind like a steel trap. Fifty million dollars has disappeared into thin air from the accounts of one of the richest men in the Philippines, Tommy Ordonez. His one hope is Ava Lee--sleek, capable forensic accountant and sleuth. With the help of her Triad-connected partner, Uncle, Ava follows the money trail from San Francisco to Costa Rica to the casinos and illegal gambling dens of Las Vegas. Meanwhile, a vengeful adversary from Ava's past has put out a contract on her life, and the shadowy hit man is close at her heels every step of the way. Will Ava recover the stolen cash without stepping into the crosshairs of a growing list of enemies?

Petite Chinese-Canadian accountant Ava Lee is not quite what she seems. Ava is a specialist at recovering stolen money - through any means necessary. With razor-sharp intelligence and unorthodox rules of engagement, Ava works for a Hong Kong-based 'Uncle'. She's also the person the impossibly wealthy turn to when their money goes missing.Employed to track down $5 million for a family friend, Ava's investigation begins a journey that takes her to the US, Hong Kong, Bangkok, the British Virgin Islands and Guyana - a place where Ava may finally have met her match.For anyone missing Lisbeth Salander, meet the very brilliant Ava Lee - a heroine for our times.

Ian Hamilton's last book, published posthumously in 2002, is a typically brilliant revisiting of the concept of Samuel Johnson's classic Lives of the English Poets, wherein Hamilton considers 45 deceased poets of the twentieth century, offering his personal estimation of what claims they will have on posterity and 'against oblivion.' Examples of each poet's verse accompany Hamilton's text, making the book both a provocative primer and a kind of critical anthology. 'The affective power of this book... lies in its understatement and its understanding of what we might care about. From a century of Manifestoes and Movements, Hamilton works as a corrective for the local and particular... his idea of poetry, of what made greatness in poetry, emerges intact from each measured sentence. His criticism always pointed you towards all that he could find that was true in a piece of writing.' Tim Adams, Observer

'There have been large magazines with tiny circulations and there have been diminutive sheets which have reached thousands of readers. But all 'little magazines' have been small in one or another of these ways, and usually in both... And yet most of them have had arrestingly large-scale ambitions...' From Ian Hamilton (1938-2001), himself the founder of the Review and New Review, comes this matchless survey (first published in 1976) of the literary magazine from 1912-1950: concentrating on those periodicals that enjoyed dominant editorial personalities (the likes of Pound, Eliot, Cyril Connolly) and which, ultimately, proved central to their cultural epoch. 'Our one consolation for Ian Hamilton's early death is that his work seems to have lived on with undiminished force. He helped to shape our generation and at this rate may well do the same for the next as well.' Clive James

Legend has it that Hollywood lures gifted writers into its service with sunshine and money, only to treat them as glorified typists and plot-mechanics, peripheral to the main business of moviemaking. This is what Ian Hamilton describes as 'the writer-in-chains saga that emerges from any study of Hollywood during its so-called golden years - the period I have marked as running from 1915-1951.' But in this superb account of what befell the likes of Faulkner, Fitzgerald, Chandler and Huxley by working for the Dream Factory, Hamilton argues that these writers 'were in the movies by choice: they earned far more money than their colleagues who did not write for films, and in several cases they applied themselves conscientiously to the not-unimportant task at hand. And they had a lot of laughs...''Fascinating and enjoyable.' New Statesman'Abounds in marvelous stories, apocryphal, fabulous, funny and even true.' ObserverFaber Finds is devoted to restoring to readers a wealth of lost or neglected classics and authors of distinction. The range embraces fiction, non-fiction, the arts and children's books. For a full list of available titles visit www.faberfinds.co.uk. To join the dialogue with fellow book-lovers please see our blog, www.faberfindsblog.co.uk.

Born in 1917 into an aristocratic Boston family Robert Lowell was not yet thirty when his first major collection of poems, Lord Weary's Castle, won the Pulitzer Prize. With Life Studies, his third book, he found the intense, highly personal voice that made him the foremost American poet of his generation. He held strong, complex and very public political views. His private life was turbulent, marred by manic depression and troubled marriages. But in this superb biography (first published in 1982) the poet Ian Hamilton illuminates both the life and the work of Lowell with sympathetic understanding and consummate narrative skill. 'Our one consolation for Ian Hamilton's early death is that his work seems to have lived on with undiminished force... The critical prose, in particular, still sets a standard that nobody else comes near.' Clive James

Literary biography is an endlessly fascinating form, not least because of the fierce controversies that attend the question of how much of a writer's real life ought to be related to readers. Ian Hamilton, a first-rate biographer who encountering his share of adversity in writing the life of J.D. Salinger, is the perfect chronicler of such controversies in this brilliant study, first published in 1992, which charts the course of literary biography from Donne and Shakespeare to Plath and Larkin. 'Such a compelling read.' Antonia Fraser, Times 'Lively and informative, powerfully and humorously written.' Anthony Burgess, Observer 'Surely the funniest book ever written on the doom-laden issue of posthumous literary fame.' Jonathan Keates, Independent

'This is a fan's eye-view of Paul Gascoigne - and fans, as we know, are expert at reassembling dashed hopes...'In 1987 Ian Hamilton - acclaimed poet, biographer and Tottenham fan - was smitten from afar by the impish skills of Newcastle United's Paul Gascoigne. When 'Gazza' duly signed for Spurs, Hamilton was sure that he and English football had found their new hero. But Gascoigne was destined to be brought low by tragic flaws, and Hamilton was ideally positioned to tell the tale in this, a peerless piece of football literature.'By the final whistle Hamilton has sketched a compelling figure: reckless, cocky, twitchy, hyperactive and half bonkers... but with flashes of implausible grace that connect with the dreams of his audience.' Independent

This revealing read will give you an opportunity to learn from history. How do strong confessional churches that seem to be doing all the right things drift inexorably from the truth?. What is clear from Ian Hamilton's fascinating study is that it doesn't happen over night but it is a gradual erosion of theological and doctrinal standards.Nineteenth century Scotland was seen as a Christian nation composed of church-going people. Among its churches, Presbyterianism was strongest, and within Presbyterianism there were several large denominations. The future looked bright and optimism marked many of the church leaders and congregations. Yet the sad fact is that most of them were blind to the presence of the warning signs that ultimately caused the decline and not the continued growth of the church in Scotland. To understand how this happened Ian Hamilton looks at the changes that took place within one of these large Presbyterian denominations - the United Presbyterian Church - and analyses the roots, developments and consequences of these changes, particularly the departure from the doctrines summarised in the Westminster Confession of Faith. It is a salutary lesson to observe that the movements for church unions and increased evangelism of the nineteenth century were not signs of spiritual health; instead they were inadequate sticking plasters that hid dangerous spiritual disease. This book also includes discussion on the nature of subscription to the Confession at time of 1733 secession, the atonement controversy 1841-45, the Union controversy 1863-1873 and 1879 United Presbyterian Church Declaratory Act.

Ian Hamilton wrote two books on J. D. Salinger. Only one, this one, was published. The first, called J. D. Salinger: A Writing Life, despite undergoing many changes to accommodate Salinger was still victim of a legal ban. Salinger objected to the use of his letters, in the end to any use of them. The first book had to be shelved. With great enterprise and determination however, Ian Hamilton set to and wrote this book which is more, much more, than an emasculated version of the first.For someone whose guarding of his privacy became so fanatical it is perhaps surprising how much Ian Hamilton was able to disinter about his earlier life. Until Salinger retreated completely into his bolt-hole outside Cornish in New Hampshire many aspects of his life, though it required assiduousness on the biographer's part, could be pieced together. A surprising portrait emerges; although there were early signs of renunciation, there were moments when his behaviour could almost be described as gregarious. The trail Hamilton follows is fascinating, and the story almost has the lineaments of a detective mystery with the denouement suitably being played out in Court.'As highly readable and as literate an account of Salinger's work from a biographical perspective as we are likely to receive' The Listener'A sophisticated exploration of Salinger's life and writing and a sustained debate about the nature of literary biography, its ethical legitimacy, its aesthetic relevance to a serious reading of a writer's books' Jonathan Raban, Observer'Hamilton's book is as devious, as compelling, and in a covert way, as violent, as a story by Chandler' Victoria Glendinning, The Times

The tone of this collection is determinedly humorous, reporting the lighter side of the conflict as viewed by its Cockney participants. Even so, the grimness behind what was in reality a brutal and highly mechanised conflict cut through many of the memoirs. The collection of short memoirs, many illustrated by the famed Bert Thomas, is divided into five categories - Action, Lull, Hospital, High Seas and Here and There. Prefaced by an introduction by Sir Ian Hamilton, the British Commander-in-Chief who oversaw the Allies' unhappy campaign in Gallipoli.

In 2001, the professional wrestling scene in the western world changed almost overnight. From three major promotions at the start of the year, just one remained by the start of April, ending more than a decade of competition. But success breeds complacency, and the five years since World Wrestling Entertainment stood triumphant over its rivals has seen unprecedented shifts in wrestling. Charting the highs and lows of the business in that time, Wrestling's Sinking Ship offers a unique look at the fall and rise of sports entertainment's most controversial characters. From necrophilia to exploitation, nostalgia to racism...oh, and don't forget that fake gay wedding!

'An excellent book ... sharp and sympathetic' - Sunday Times 'Why doesn't Matthew Arnold enjoy a higher reputation today? He wrote some of the most beautiful poetry of the Victorian period ... yet he distrusted his own poetic genius and effectively stifled it after its early blossoming, devoting his maturity instead to writing worthy but unexciting prose criticism. The reasons why he did this, and the extraordinary tension in the poetry he did write between outbursts of passion and fierce repression, are excellently handled in Ian Hamilton's critical biography.' - Adam Roberts As a youth, Matthew Arnold was an impassioned lyric poet, deeply at odds with his times. In his later years, he turned himself to more "purposeful" prose composition and became a social prophet and literary critic. This biography addresses some of the mysteries surrounding Arnold's life, and attempts to animate certain key moments, or turning points, in Arnold's passage from the poetic life to the prose of his later years.

This collection of essays focuses on Salman Rushdie, Stephen Spender, R.S. Thomas, Elisabeth Thomas, Elisabeth Bishop and many others. They take biography as their starting point, but their final aim is to iluminate the writer's work. Not limited simply to literary subjects, the book also includes essays on football, money, travel and the rigours of the literary life.