Editing Nina Hamnett (section)

== Later life ==
In 1932 Hamnett published ''Laughing Torso'', a tale of her bohemian life, which became a bestseller in the UK and US.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5jJ8CgAAQBAJ&q=Nina+Hamnett++Laughing+Torso|title=Laughing Torso - Reminiscences of Nina Hamnett|first=Nina|last=Hamnett|date=March 23, 2011|publisher=Read Books Ltd|isbn=9781446545522|via=Google Books}}</ref> The notorious occultist [[Aleister Crowley]] unsuccessfully sued her and the publisher for libel over allegations of black magic made in her book.<ref name=":0" />

Although she won the case, the situation profoundly affected her for the remainder of her life. [[Alcoholism]] would soon overtake her many talents<ref name="ElliottWallace2014"/> and the tragic "Queen of the Fitzroy" spent a good part of the last few decades of her life at the bar (usually that of the Fitzroy Tavern), trading anecdotes for drinks.

Twenty-three years after her first book ''Laughing Torso'' was published, Hamnett, in poor health, released a follow-up book titled: ''Is She a Lady?''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SjMkAAAAMAAJ|title=Is She a Lady?: A Problem in Autobiography|first=Nina|last=Hamnett|date=August 18, 1955|publisher=Wingate|via=Google Books}}</ref>

Hamnett died in 1956 from complications after falling out of her apartment window and being impaled on the fence forty feet below. The great debate has always been whether it was a suicide attempt or merely a drunken accident. Her last words were "Why don't they let me die?"<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.modjourn.brown.edu/mjp/Image/Hamnet/Hamnet.htm |title=Red Flame: "Nina Hamnet (1890-1956)" |accessdate=2006-05-25 |url-status=bot: unknown |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20040626210053/http://www.modjourn.brown.edu/mjp/Image/Hamnet/Hamnet.htm |archivedate=June 26, 2004}}</ref>

The American novelist Julius Horwitz (1920–1986) portrayed Nina Hamnett in his 1964 novel about London during World War Two, titled ''Can I Get There By Candlelight''. Horwitz was stationed outside of London during World War Two, and was befriended by Hamnett as a young soldier when he would go into London on a three-day pass.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.pennilesspress.co.uk/NRB/colony_room_club_19482008.htm|title=THE COLONY ROOM CLUB 1948-2008|website=www.pennilesspress.co.uk}}</ref> A biography, ''Nina Hamnett: Queen of Bohemia'' by Denise Hooker, was published in 1986. In 2011, Hamnett was the subject of a short film by writer/director [[Chris Ward (playwright)|Chris Ward]]— ''What Shall We Do with the Drunken Sailor,'' starring [[Siobhan Fahey]]. In November 2019, the [[Fitzrovia Chapel]] hosted an exhibition called ''Nina Hamnett - Everybody was Furious''.<ref>[https://www.fitzroviachapel.org/event/nina-hamnett-everybody-was-furious/ Nina Hamnett - 'Everybody was Furious']. Fitzrovia Chapel. Accessed: 7 November 2023.</ref>