After William Humphrey's critically acclaimed and popular first novel, Home from the Hill, was published in 1958, the young author seemed as successful and full of promise as any serious writer of his generation. The book had been published by the prestigious house of Alfred A. Knopf, which had pursued him as an author after his short stories began to win recognition in the early 1950s. Home from the Hill was reviewed with considerable enthusiasm in the United States and in Britain: William Goyen in The New York Times (12 January 1958) called it "one of the most distinguished firsts by a young writer to appear in some years," while Elizabeth Bowen in the Tatler (12 March 1958) described it as "a tragic masterpiece" by "a writer of genius." It was a finalist for the National Book Award, and--the final seal of literary success--it was bought by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The Variety headline describing the...