West of Sunset

Set in the shadow of Hollywood opulence - the gaudy wastes of Los Angeles - West of Sunset is a sharp and potent satire of movie-making America. However the excessive glitter is embedded in a deeper plot about a successful man's fall from grace.

Hugo Arlington, a celebrated young writer, had the power to destroy people. His widow, Alice, is not the only person to be haunted by his death and life, and gradually the truth about the dangerous games Hugo played comes to light, and the past comes catching up with the present.

West of Sunset is an amusing and rich depiction of a world that Bogarde himself came to know and loathe.

First published in 1984, this is Dirk Bogarde's fourth novel.

Sir Dirk Bogarde was an English actor and novelist. Initially a matinee idol, Bogarde later acted in art-house films such asDeath In Venice. As well as completing six novels, Bogarde wrote several volumes of autobiography.

Between 1947 and 1991, Bogarde made more than sixty films. For over two decades he lived in Italy and France, where he began to write seriously.

In 1985 he was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters by the University of St Andrews and in 1990 was promoted to Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government.