Malcolm Lowry (1909–1957)

Death: 26th June 1957
Location: Saint John the Baptist Churchyard, Ripe, East Sussex, England
Cause of death: Accidental - Overdose
Photo taken by: DeadGoodBooks
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English novelist. Born in Cheshire he was the son of a wealthy Liverpool merchant. He left school to work as a deckhand on a steamer, travelling overseas, before returning to the UK to study at St Catherine's College, Cambridge. He then lived a wandering life around Europe, the US, and Mexico, before settling in British Columbia, Canada. He spent his final years in Sussex where he died from an accidental overdose of alcohol and barbiturates, after spending most of his life battling with alcoholism.
His first novel, Ultramarine, was influenced by his travels at sea. His second novel, Under the Volcano, is viewed as a classic of twentieth-century fiction, it is set in Mexico, and recounts the story of an alcoholic one-time British diplomat whose estranged wife returns. Under the Volcano was made into a film in 1984, staring Albert Finney and Jacqueline Bisset.

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