The story opens with Hilary Freeth and his wife Barbara reflecting on their Cambridge friend Jaffery Chayne, who reenters their lives through letters after working as a war corresp...
In the second part Jaffery enters the narrative directly and his romantic choices begin to disrupt the lives around him. Friendship is tested and love is strained between idealism ...
Simon de Gex, diagnosed with a terminal illness, retreats from political life to the bleak seaside town of Murglebed-on-Sea where he confronts mortality with wit and irony. Through...
In the second part Simon’s experiences in Murglebed draw him back into emotional engagement and human connection. By offering laughter and comfort to others he discovers that the ...
Confined to her room by a spinal illness, twelve-year-old Stella Blount reigns over her small sea-facing world with radiant spirit and boundless imagination. Her innocence and char...
In the second part Stella’s luminous presence increasingly collides with the limits of reality, forcing those who love her to confront painful truths. The adults’ attempts to pro...
The Joyous Adventures of Aristide Pujol is an early twentieth-century novel centered on Aristide Pujol, a charming rogue who embraces life as a continuous joyful adventure, opening...
Marcus Ordeyne escapes a dull teaching life only to inherit a title and fortune that pull him into unwanted responsibility while society pressures him toward marriage and duty desp...
In the second part Marcus meets Carlotta, a young woman adrift in London whose untamed spirit disrupts his assumptions about morality and order. Through their relationship he begin...
The novel opens with Brigadier-General Andrew Lackaday asking a friend to record his life story as he reflects on his past with frank self-awareness. He recalls his childhood in th...
James Marmaduke Trevor, known as Doggie, grows up in the cathedral town of Durdlebury sheltered by excessive maternal care and isolated from hardship. His sensitive and delicate na...
In the second part the outbreak of war forces Doggie out of his sheltered world and into direct contact with suffering and danger. Military life and wartime experience test his fra...
Sylvester Lanyon lives in the shadow of his deceased wife, moving cautiously through life as a devoted doctor whose guarded outlook contrasts sharply with the vitality of Ella Defr...
In the second part Sylvester confronts adversity and failure, gradually recognizing loss as a force of transformation rather than finality. His relationship with Ella deepens into ...