'He is, as Proust was before him, the great literary chronicler of his culture in his time.' GUARDIAN

'A Dance to the Music of Time' is universally acknowledged as one of the great works of English literature. Reissued now in this definitive edition, it stands ready to delight and entrance a new generation of readers.

In this second volume, Nick Jenkins is struggling to establish himself in London after graduating from university. As old friends come and go - Stringham takes the leap into marriage, Templer heads into the world of business and Widmerpool, confident in his own importance, begins a career in law - Nick starts to make new acquaintances, and throws himself into society life. In this new world of glamorous Debutante balls and leisurely country visits, Nick has his first encounter with love and its disappointments.

The second novel in Anthony Powell's brilliant twelve-novel sequence, A Dance to the Music of Time

About the Author
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.

Reviews
One of the great novel-sequences in English Literature - a wonderful portrait of society, full of insight into the complexities of human behaviour, richly detailed and shrewdly funny.
Discovering Anthony Powell's "A Dance to the Music of Time" has been one of the greatest pleasures of my reading life. The cool elegance of the prose, the deliciously dry humour, the confident choreography of his characters make for an incomparable treat. -- Michael Palin
"A Dance To The Music of Time" is an epic, elegant masterpiece, so full of lightness and comedy that you're unprepared for how it quietly wrecks your heart. -- Lauren Groff
Powell's novel sequence is at once a rich chronicle of 20th-century English social life and an intricately wrought work of art. It is also extremely funny, in its sly fashion.
The novels of Powell's "A Dance to the Music of Time" themselves move hand in hand in intricate measure through the last century, bearing wisdom and understanding for the present. In an ever-quicker, ever-shallower world, his steadiness and wit reliably escort the reader into depth and patience. Nobody gives pattern to the spectacle of human existence like Powell. -- Louisa Young
A masterful stylist and a wise, often hilarious observer of human nature and his times, Anthony Powell is an under-appreciated literary gem. The pleasures and dramas of the "Dance" continue to illuminate daily life. -- Claire Messud
Reading "A Dance to the Music of Time" was such a joyous experience, I remember wishing there'd been more than twelve volumes. -- Roddy Doyle
I re-read the "Dance" every five years or so and always find something new - the world has changed but the characters are evergreen. Everybody has a Widmerpool in their life. -- Daisy Goodwin
He has wit, style, and panache, in a world where those qualities are in permanently short supply * The New York Review of Books *
[A] comic masterpiece * Irish Times *



Book Information
ISBN 9780099472391
Author Anthony Powell
Format Paperback
Page Count 320
Imprint Arrow Books Ltd
Publisher Cornerstone
Weight(grams) 256g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 129mm * 20mm