Needed a book with a with nice linear narrative after some of the longeurs of the previous few. This was wonderful.
A fictionalised diary spanning most of the 20th century of a privately and Oxford educated chap whose life ranges from literary critic through art dealer, spy, friend of Edward VIII (briefly). Sections set in school, Oxford, London and Paris, New York, briefly Africa and finally France.
In the course of this he meets just about every literary and artistic figure of the century, marries twice (initially and disastrously into the aristocracy, 2nd wife and daughter killed by a bomb towards the end of the war).
Beautifully written, the last section set in France where he retires to and dies, covers ageing and the bodily decline brilliantly.
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