The Foot of Clive

From the 1972 Booker Prize-winning author comes an examination of masculinity, social covenants and murder that develops into a masterclass in humanity, with an introduction by Benjamin Myers

In the centre of a 1960s hospital ward sits a curtained-off bed, guarded by a policeman. In it lies a murderer, hidden from view and likely to die before he can be hanged for his crime. In the closed, regimented society of the ward, his invisible presence fractures and rebuilds the way the other patients see the world. In the face of someone who has shattered all social covenants, life can no longer continue according to the rules.