A World War II orphan, raised by his aunt and uncle in an English village, comes of age with many childhood notions changed by his schooling and his army service

Aspiring writer Julian Ramsay finds his happy life threatened when his literary nemesis, Raphael Hunter, offers to help smooth Julian's way into an elite literary circle and then has an affair with Julian's wife

Follows the evolution of a writer's career as Julian Ramsay lands a job at a provocative magazine and meets a bizarre genius who soon gets him into trouble

Book by Wilson, A. N.

Proustian without the pretensions (Kirkus Reviews), this marvelous work offers a rich culmination of Wilson's masterful portrait of a generation in its heyday and decline . . . presented with ironic humor and dense with engaging ideas and indelible characters (Publishers Weekly).