20,000 Streets Under the Sky
Encyclopedia
Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky is a trilogy of semi-autobiographical novels by Patrick Hamilton.
The three books are The Midnight Bell (1929), The Siege of Pleasure (1932) and The Plains of Cement (1934). They focus on three of the people who populate The Midnight Bell pub in London; the stories interconnect.
The Midnight Bell tells the story of Bob, a sailor turned bar waiter who falls in love with Jenny, a prostitute who visits the pub. Ella, the barmaid at the pub, is secretly in love with Bob. Eventually, Jenny loses interest once Bob has spent all his savings on her.
The Siege of Pleasure relates Jenny's early life as a servant, and her descent into prostitution. Bob and Ella do not feature at all in this novel.
The Plains of Cement focuses on Ella, and is set during the events in The Midnight Bell, although from a different perspective. Ella, still nursing an untold affection for Bob, has to deal with the increasingly unwelcome advances of Ernest Eccles, an elderly customer of the pub. The narrative concludes one day after the final scene of The Midnight Bell.
The first book in particular contains autobiographical elements - Hamilton worked in London pubs before becoming a successful writer, was infatuated with a prostitute at that time, and eventually died of liver failure caused by alcoholism. The books are also notable for their portrayal of working class London in the inter-war period.
The 1963 film Bitter Harvest was based on the trilogy.
The trilogy was published in paperback by Vintage
in 2004 (ISBN 0-09-947916-8).
In 2005, the books were dramatised and shown initially on BBC Four
and later on BBC Two
. The three-part drama was also released on DVD
, HD DVD
and Blu-ray.
The three books are The Midnight Bell (1929), The Siege of Pleasure (1932) and The Plains of Cement (1934). They focus on three of the people who populate The Midnight Bell pub in London; the stories interconnect.
The Midnight Bell tells the story of Bob, a sailor turned bar waiter who falls in love with Jenny, a prostitute who visits the pub. Ella, the barmaid at the pub, is secretly in love with Bob. Eventually, Jenny loses interest once Bob has spent all his savings on her.
The Siege of Pleasure relates Jenny's early life as a servant, and her descent into prostitution. Bob and Ella do not feature at all in this novel.
The Plains of Cement focuses on Ella, and is set during the events in The Midnight Bell, although from a different perspective. Ella, still nursing an untold affection for Bob, has to deal with the increasingly unwelcome advances of Ernest Eccles, an elderly customer of the pub. The narrative concludes one day after the final scene of The Midnight Bell.
The first book in particular contains autobiographical elements - Hamilton worked in London pubs before becoming a successful writer, was infatuated with a prostitute at that time, and eventually died of liver failure caused by alcoholism. The books are also notable for their portrayal of working class London in the inter-war period.
The 1963 film Bitter Harvest was based on the trilogy.
The trilogy was published in paperback by Vintage
Vintage (publisher)
Vintage Books is a publishing imprint founded in 1954 by Alfred A. Knopf. Its publishing list includes world literature, fiction, and non-fiction...
in 2004 (ISBN 0-09-947916-8).
In 2005, the books were dramatised and shown initially on BBC Four
BBC Four
BBC Four is a British television network operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation and available to digital television viewers on Freeview, IPTV, satellite and cable....
and later on BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
. The three-part drama was also released on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
, HD DVD
HD DVD
HD DVD is a discontinued high-density optical disc format for storing data and high-definition video.Supported principally by Toshiba, HD DVD was envisioned to be the successor to the standard DVD format...
and Blu-ray.