Paul Kelver, a fictional character, recounts an eventful life loosely based on author Jerome K. Jerome’s personal and professional exploits prior to becoming a writer. It’s an intriguing look at an unconventional path that led to a promising literary career. In Paul Kelver: A Novel, the narrator explains the critical events that pushed him into his current profession. He details both platonic and romantic relationships that have come and gone. He also attempts to become an established actor in an industry fueled by rejection with limited opportunities. Paul eventually meets a key figure whose influence helps to change the trajectory of his life. Paul Kelver: A Novel is a rare and entertaining narrative by Jerome K. Jerome. Published years after his debut, the author uses the narrative to reflect on his own success. This journey from novice actor to prominent writer is filled with unforgettable characters and anecdotes. With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Paul Kelver: A Novel is both modern and readable.

The life of Jerome K. Jerome, (1859-1927) author of "Three Men in a Boat, " has been left unexplored. Oulton unearths hitherto unknown details of his early life in Walsall and follows his momentous move to the Fairy City of London, where a formative encounter with Charles Dickens influenced his choice of profession.

"Peter Hope was tall and thin, clean-shaven but for a pair of side whiskers close-cropped and terminating just below the ear, with hair of the kind referred to by sympathetic barbers as 'getting a little thin on the top, sir, ' but arranged with economy, that everywhere is poverty's true helpmate. About Mr. Peter Hope's linen, which was white though somewhat frayed, there was a self-assertiveness that invariably arrested the attention of even the most casual observer. Decidedly there was too much of it--its ostentation aided and abetted by the retiring nature of the cut-away coat, whose chief aim clearly was to slip off and disappear behind its owner's back." "Tommy and Co." (1904), the amusing and sometimes bittersweet adventures of a crew of Fleet Street journalists, is a humorous classic by Jerome K. Jerome ..."--