Very unusual signed. Baron’s most famous novel, but still not well-known enough. The ‘lowlife’ of the title - the wry, self-loathing gambler, Harryboy Boas - is a rare beast: a narrator who is unreliable because he is a better man than he thinks he is. Boas is drawn into the lives of the troubled young family who share his Hackney boarding house, and Baron perfectly balances the domestic sphere (he is particularly wise about the various pacts and compromises between adults and children) with the seedy, not-so-swinging end of 60s London.
The U.S. edition is more common, perhaps because the publisher felt that the lively London-Jewish dialogue would play well with an American audience. Whether it did or not, this is certainly one of a handful of truly great London stories, and its unflinching yet warm approach to the characters elevates it to being one of the great novels. In any case, and for what it’s worth, it is one of the cataloguer’s favourite works of literature.