Why were so many authors of the greatest works of literature consumed by alcoholism? In The Trip to Echo Spring, Olivia Laing takes a journey across America, examining the links between creativity and drink in the overlapping work and lives of six extraordinary men: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Tennessee Williams, John Berryman, John Cheever and Raymond Carver.

From Hemingway's Key West to Williams's New Orleans, Laing pieces together a topographical map of alcoholism, and strips away the tangle of mythology to reveal the terrible price creativity can exert.

"A work of art, with a voice and a mood all its own." - * Nick Hornby *

"Original, brave and very moving . . . Her insights shine with beauty yet are shaded by sympathy and compassion" - * Observer *

"A terrific writer" - * The Times *

"Full of insight, compassion and unexpected beauty" - * Guardian *

"Haunting . . . a moving, troubling, gorgeously written book" - * Independent on Sunday, Paperbacks of the Year *

"Beguiling, beautifully written . . . brilliant and original" - * The Sunday Times *

"Beguiling and incisive" - * New York Times *

"Laing's prose is lucid and exuberant" - * Financial Times *

"Laing is a brilliant wordsmith and this is a beautifully accomplished book" - * Independent *