Anthony Powell was an only child, born in 1905. As a young man he worked for a crumbling publishing business whilst trying to find time to write novels. He moved in a bohemian world of struggling writers and artists, which was to provide the raw material for much of his fiction. During the Second World War he served in Military Intelligence Liaison. He subsequently became a fiction reviewer for the Times Literary Supplement and for five years he was the literary editor of the now-defunct magazine Punch. Meanwhile he continued to work on the twelve-novel sequence ‘A Dance to the Music of Time’. He was the author of seven other novels, and four volumes of memoirs. His many reviews for the Daily Telegraph are also published in collected volumes. Anthony Powell died in March 2000.

"'I think it is now becoming clear that A Dance to the Music of Time is going to become the greatest modern novel since Ulysses'" -- Clive James "'I would rather read Mr Powell than any English novelist now writing'" -- Kingsley Amis "'The Valley of Bones is sheer delight.It is immaculate in period and military detail; it praises duty, while at the same time making educated play of its absurdities; it recognises heroism, but is swift to prick pretension; it evokes a wry poetry from drabness and boredom; and it is exceedingly funny throughout'" Observer "'Incalculably brilliant'" TIME "'I find Powell the sort of writer who exerts such a strong pull that turning anyone else's books, after his, calls for an effort of will... One of the most individual tones of voice in contemporary novel-writing and one of the most artful'" -- Norman Shrapnel Guardian

Anthony Powell was an only child, born in 1905. As a young man he worked for a crumbling publishing business whilst trying to find time to write novels. He moved in a bohemian world of struggling writers and artists, which was to provide the raw material for much of his fiction. During the Second World War he served in Military Intelligence Liaison. He subsequently became a fiction reviewer for the Times Literary Supplement and for five years he was the literary editor of the now-defunct magazine Punch. Meanwhile he continued to work on the twelve-novel sequence ‘A Dance to the Music of Time’. He was the author of seven other novels, and four volumes of memoirs. His many reviews for the Daily Telegraph are also published in collected volumes. Anthony Powell died in March 2000.

"'I think it is now becoming clear that A Dance to the Music of Time is going to become the greatest modern novel since Ulysses'" -- Clive James "'I would rather read Mr Powell than any English novelist now writing'" -- Kingsley Amis "'The Valley of Bones is sheer delight.It is immaculate in period and military detail; it praises duty, while at the same time making educated play of its absurdities; it recognises heroism, but is swift to prick pretension; it evokes a wry poetry from drabness and boredom; and it is exceedingly funny throughout'" Observer "'Incalculably brilliant'" TIME "'I find Powell the sort of writer who exerts such a strong pull that turning anyone else's books, after his, calls for an effort of will... One of the most individual tones of voice in contemporary novel-writing and one of the most artful'" -- Norman Shrapnel Guardian

Anthony Powell was an only child, born in 1905. As a young man he worked for a crumbling publishing business whilst trying to find time to write novels. He moved in a bohemian world of struggling writers and artists, which was to provide the raw material for much of his fiction. During the Second World War he served in Military Intelligence Liaison. He subsequently became a fiction reviewer for the Times Literary Supplement and for five years he was the literary editor of the now-defunct magazine Punch. Meanwhile he continued to work on the twelve-novel sequence ‘A Dance to the Music of Time’. He was the author of seven other novels, and four volumes of memoirs. His many reviews for the Daily Telegraph are also published in collected volumes. Anthony Powell died in March 2000.

"'I think it is now becoming clear that A Dance to the Music of Time is going to become the greatest modern novel since Ulysses'" -- Clive James "'I would rather read Mr Powell than any English novelist now writing'" -- Kingsley Amis "'The Valley of Bones is sheer delight.It is immaculate in period and military detail; it praises duty, while at the same time making educated play of its absurdities; it recognises heroism, but is swift to prick pretension; it evokes a wry poetry from drabness and boredom; and it is exceedingly funny throughout'" Observer "'Incalculably brilliant'" TIME "'I find Powell the sort of writer who exerts such a strong pull that turning anyone else's books, after his, calls for an effort of will... One of the most individual tones of voice in contemporary novel-writing and one of the most artful'" -- Norman Shrapnel Guardian