High Hopes: Coming of Age at the Mid-Century

As the 20th century reached mid-point, two undergraduates with “high hopes” and a dash of hero worship for things literary dream of setting the post-war world on fire. One hops into an MG roadster and drives expectantly across North America to meet his idol Christopher Isherwood; soon after, he crosses the Atlantic to attend Balliol College, Oxford. The other fights his way up McGill’s student ladder to edit their literary magazines, helping to earn his tuition by bruising labour in BC’s Forestry Service. In this collection of their letters (including unpublished correspondence from Christopher Isherwood, Sean O’Casey, Patrick Anderson, and other contemporary writers) Paul Almond and Michael Ballantyne have woven journal entries, photographs and other memorabilia together with their present-day reflections to open a bright window on our collective past.