Evelyn Waugh was born in Hampstead in 1903 and educated at Hertford College, Oxford. In 1928 he published his first novel, Decline and Fall, which was soon followed by Vile Bodies (1930), Black Mischief (1932), A Handful of Dust (1934) and Scoop (1938). During these years he also travelled extensively and converted to Catholicism. In 1939 Waugh was commissioned in the Royal Marines and later transferred to the Royal Horse Guards, experiences which informed his Sword of Honour trilogy (1952-61). His most famous novel, Brideshead Revisited (1945), was written while on leave from the army. Waugh died in 1966.

“A vicious, witty novel.” —New York Times “Waugh’s technique is relentless and razor-edged…By any standard it is super satire.” —Chicago Daily News“The most mature and the best written novel that Mr. Waugh has yet produced.” —New Statesman & Nation “A story both tragic and hilariously funny, that seems to move along without aid from its author…Unquestionably the best book Mr. Waugh has written.” —Saturday Review