His Own Executioner: The Life of Nigel Balchin

 
Hailed by John Betjeman as 'one of our dozen readable living writers of genius', Nigel Balchin was one of the best-known English novelists of the Second World War generation: few writers so tangibly convey the excitement and terror of Blitz-era Britain. Little wonder that Balchin's books, among them 'Mine Own Executioner' and 'The Small Back Room', were seized upon by film-makers of the calibre of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. Never previously the subject of a biography, Balchin was not only a brilliant novelist and BAFTA-winning screenwriter, he was also largely responsible for the success of Black Magic chocolates. Yet his alcoholism and tormented love life ensured that his writing became increasingly uneven.