`[Nelson`s] style is swift and straightforward, his narrative gift considerable ... Consistently diverting, this may be the novel about homosexuality to end all novels on the subject .. . [W]ill make many a reader`s day.` - Julian MacLaren-Ross, Punch

`Talented, amusing ... the story is told with sustained suspense: the various men in it are not merely types, but flesh and blood, even if one wishes that Patrick had never been born.` - John Betjeman, Daily Telegraph

`Odiously funny and delightfully unwholesome ... a distinct relief after the ponderous treatment homosexuality has tended to get in some recent novels.` - Sunday Times

`[S]harp, witty, malicious ... wonderfully developed in the best Machiavellian tradition.` - Malcolm Bradbury, New York Times Book Review

`Classic high camp.` - Books and Bookmen

Patrick, the book`s opening line tells us, is `very, very rich`. He`s also single, and he has his sights set on Nicholas Milestone, a handsome young provincial journalist. Having lured Nicholas to London with the promise of a job on a tabloid magazine, Patrick moves the young man into his suite at a posh hotel, where he lavishes money and expensive gifts on him. Nicholas enjoys his luxurious new lifestyle and meeting Patrick`s amusing and fashionable friends, but he soon understands what Patrick`s really after. Knowing he won`t be able to resist the older man`s advances forever, the greedy Nicholas will have to choose between his conscience and his newly acquired love of money.

A Room in Chelsea Square (1958), the semi-autobiographical second novel by Michael Nelson (1921-1990), was published anonymously both because of its frank gay content at a time when homosexuality was still illegal and because its characters were thinly veiled portrayals of prominent London literary figures. Witty, clever, and very funny, Nelson`s novel has long been recognized as a gay classic and returns to print in this edition, which features a new introduction by Gregory Woods.