Evelyn Waugh

An evocative novel of life in the golden age before the second world war. When Charles Ryder meets Sebastian Flyte at Oxford it is the start of his painful infatuation with the Marchmain family.

Serious-minded theology student Paul Pennyfeather, sent down from Oxford for indecent behaviour, is the new schoolmaster at Llanabba Castle. His colleagues are an assortment of misfits, rascals and fools. Sports day arrives, and as the farce unfolds and the young run riot, no one is safe.

Lady Brenda Last is bored with both her seven year marriage and country living. As she drifts into an affair with a young socialite she becomes involved with the glamorous Belgravia set.

Guy Crouchback is determined to fight in the Second World War so takes a commission in the Royal Corps of Halberdiers. But he does not see any of the action. His first campaign, an abortive affair on the West African coastline, ends with an escapade which seriously blots his copybook.

Book 2 of ‘Sword of Honour' trilogy, sequel to 'Men at Arms' (8269). Guy Crouchback is now attached to a commando unit undergoing training on the Hebridean isle of Mugg, where the whisky flows freely and HM forces have to show respect for the laird. But the comedy of Mugg is followed by the bitterness of Crete during WW2, a time of humiliation and defeat for the British Army.

Lord Copper, newspaper magnate and proprietor of the Daily Beast, has always prided himself on his flair for spotting ace reporters. Acting on a dinner party tip, he feels convinced he has found a chap to cover a little war in Ishmaelia.

Book 3 of ‘Sword of Honour' trilogy, sequel to 'Officers and Gentlemen' (1149). A desk job in London gives Guy Crouchback the chance of reconciliation with his former wife. Then, in Yugoslavia, as a liaison officer with the partisans, he finally becomes aware of the futility of a war he once saw in terms of honour.

This volume of selections from Evelyn Waugh's early travel writings includes accounts of a Mediterranean pleasure cruise, of the coronation of the Emperor Haile Selassie in Abyssinia in 1930 and the Italian invasion five years later, and of visits to Aden and Brazil.