A Change of Air

What It's About

When a young poet's overnight literary fame turns his head, he abandons London for the quiet market town of Denborough, determined to live loudly by his own bohemian principles. His arrival scandalises the town's more conventional residents, chief among them a disapproving local squire, and draws a mix of admirers, rivals and hangers-on into his orbit. As his ideals are tested against small-town society, friendship and the practical realities of daily life, the novel traces how quickly conviction can bend under real consequences.

Key Concepts

A comedy of manners with a serious undertow, the novel weighs youthful idealism against the compromises of adulthood. It contrasts London's literary fashions with the more grounded realities of provincial life, quietly satirising both the poet's self-styled radicalism and the town's rigid respectability.

About the Author

Anthony Hope was the pen name of Sir Anthony Hope Hawkins (1863–1933), an English novelist and playwright. Trained as a barrister, he wrote fiction alongside his legal career before turning to writing full-time after early literary success. He was knighted in 1918 for his contribution to wartime propaganda work.