Taking its title from T.S. Eliot's modernist poem The Waste Land" Evelyn Waugh's "A Handful of Dust" is a chronicle of Britain's decadence & social disintegration between the First & Second World Wars. This " Penguin Modern Classics" edition is edited with an introduction & notes by Robert Murray Davis. After seven years of marriage the beautiful Lady Brenda Last is bored with life at Hetton Abbey the Gothic mansion that is the pride & joy of her husband Tony. She drifts into an affair with the shallow socialite John Beaver & forsakes Tony for the Belgravia set. Brilliantly combining tragedy comedy & savage irony "A Handful of Dust" captures the irresponsible mood of the 'crazy & sterile generation' between the wars. This breakdown of the Last marriage is a painful comic re-working of Waugh's own divorce & a symbol of the disintegration of society. Evelyn Waugh (1903-66) was born in Hampstead second son of Arthur Waugh publisher & literary critic & brother of Alec Waugh the popular novelist. In 1928 he published his first work a life of Dante Gabriel Rossetti & his first novel " Decline & Fall" which was soon followed by " Vile Bodies" (1930) "A Handful of Dust" (1934) & " Scoop" (1938). In 1942 he published " Put Out More Flags" & then in 1945 " Brideshead Revisited". " Men at Arms" (1952) was the first volume of " The Sword of Honour" trilogy & won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize; the other volumes " Officers & Gentlemen" & " Unconditional Surrender" followed in 1955 & 1961. If you enjouyed "A Handful of Dust" you might like Waugh's " Vile Bodies" also available in " Penguin Modern Classics". " One of the twentieth century's most chilling & bitter novels; & one of its best". (Nicholas Lezard " Guardian"). " One of the most distinguished novels of the century". (Frank Kermode). " This is a masterpiece of stylish satire & is funny too.. .a marvellous book". (John Banville " Irish Times")."