Mr Norris Changes Trains

A supreme example of a radiant prose rhythm married to the most delicious dialogue – a portrait of the subtly ruinous Mr Norris. – Sebastian Barry * Week *
Isherwood sketches with the lightest of touches the last gasp of the decaying demi-monde and the vigorous world of Communists and Nazis, grappling with each other on the edge of the abyss * Sunday Telegraph *
What the Berlin stories retain, to a unique degree, is the ability to tell us what it really felt like then - to feel involved with the Germans and still to find that they retained their mystery; to be in the mode, yes, of a camera, and yet to be furiously, hopelessly involved – James Fenton
The first literary novel that really switched me on was Christopher Isherwood’s Mr Norris Changes Trains – Chris Pattern * Daily Mail *
He immortalised Berlin in two short, brilliant novels both published in the Thirties, Mr Norris Changes Trains and Goodbye To Berlin, inventing a new form for future generations - intimate, stylised reportage in loosely connected episodes * Daily Express *
Mr Norris Changes Trains brought him recognition as one of the most promising young writers of his generation * The Times *

Christopher Isherwood was born in Cheshire, England, in 1904. He left Cambridge without graduating, briefly studied medicine, and published his first novel, All the Conspirators, in 1928. This was followed by The Memorial in 1932.

From 1928 onwards, Isherwood lived mostly outside of England, spending four years in Berlin and five years in various European countries, including Portugal, Holland, Belgium, and Denmark. His experiences in Berlin inspired the novels Mr Norris Changes Trains (1935) and Goodbye to Berlin (1939).

In 1939, he moved to California, which remained his home for the rest of his life. During part of World War II, Isherwood worked with the American Friends Service Committee. He became a US citizen in 1946.

Following his move to America, he wrote five novels: Prater Violet, The World in the Evening, Down There on a Visit, A Single Man, and A Meeting by the River. He also published a travel book, The Condor and the Cows, and a biography, Ramakrishna and his Disciples.

In 1971, he released Kathleen and Frank, a book based on his parents’ correspondence and his mother’s diary. Christopher and his Kind (1977) offered an autobiographical account of his years from 1929 to 1939, and My Guru and His Disciple (1980) told the story of his friendship with the Swami Prabhavananda.

Christopher Isherwood died in 1986.

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