Passing Bells

Born in Hollywood, California, Phillip Rock lived in England with his family until the blitz of 1940. He spent his adult years in Los Angeles and published three novels before the Passing Bells series: Flickers, The Dead in Guanajuato, and The Extraordinary Seaman. He died in 2004.

"A capacity to shock, to astonish, and to engage ... written throughout with economy and wit." -- New York Times Book Review "Swift and startling power ... moving ... entertaining ... can absorb you into its fictional landscape as easily as Alice passing through the looking glass." -- Chicago Tribune Book World "Well-written, exciting ... echoes of Hemingway, Graves, and 'Upstairs, Downstairs,' with characters who breathe and about whom one cares." -- Library Journal "Spellbinding. This is really a start-reading-and-don't-stop-until-you're-finished-novel." -- Publishers Weekly "Every twenty-five years or so, we are blessed with a war novel, outstanding in that it depicts not only the history of our time, but also its soul." -- West Coast Review of Books "Fascinating ... a timeless tale of the conflicts that emerge from a violent change. It is a delight to read." -- Cleveland Press