Synopses & Reviews
Evelyn Waugh was already famous when
Brideshead Revisitedwas published in 1945. Written at the height of the war, the novel was, he admitted, of no "immediate propaganda value." Instead, it was the story of a household, a family and a journey of religious faith—an elegy for a vanishing world and a testimony to a family he had fallen in love with a decade earlier.
The Lygons of Madresfield were every bit as glamourous, eccentric and compelling as their counterparts in Brideshead Revisited. William Lygon, Earl Beauchamp, was a warmhearted, generous and unconventional father whose seven children adored him. When he was forced to flee the country by his scheming brother-in-law, his traumatised children stood firmly by him, defying not only the mores of the day but also their deeply religious mother.
In this engrossing biography, Paula Byrne takes an innovative approach to her subject, setting out to capture Waugh through the friendships that mattered most to him. She uncovers a man who, far from the snobbish misanthrope of popular caricature, was as loving and as complex as the family that inspired him. This brilliantly original biography unlocks for the first time the extent to which Waugh's great novel encoded and transformed his own experiences. In so doing, it illuminates the loves and obsessions that shaped his life, and brings us inevitably to the secret that dared not speak its name.
Review
“Altogether excellent and wickedly entertaining…Scandalous detail enlivens every page of this delicious biography…Over the years Ive read all the major biographies of Evelyn Waugh, and Byrnes is…the fastest moving and the most fun.” Michael Dirda, Washington Post
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“A splendid new book…While displaying the research values of a scholar Byrne also manages to write with the panache and timing of a popular novelist.” Alexander Waugh, Daily Beast
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“An engaging book…remarkably thorough…Deftly interweaving biographical details and textual analysis, Byrne makes the connections between Waughs art, Roman Catholic faith, and life dance.” Heller McAlpin, Christian Science Monitor
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“Mad World is the perfect title for this sparkling book, a hybrid of family romance, incisive literary criticism, and deliciously hot gossip.” Martin Rubin, Washington Times
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“Remarkable…not only a meticulously researched biography but also an enjoyable read.” Library Journal
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“Well-researched and absorbing.” Booklist
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“An utterly captivating and generous book with all the intimacy of a diary and the scholarly soundness of a fine biography…A singular accomplishment.” Chicago Tribune
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“A sharp, entertaining literary biography…A perceptive study of how Evelyn Waugh emerged from middle-class beginnings to inhabit the tony corridors described in BRIDESHEAD REVISITED.” Kirkus Reviews
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“A considerable contribution to literary history…includes enough gossipy asides to intrigue readers.” Publishers Weekly
Synopsis
Evelyn Waugh was already famous when
Brideshead Revisited was published in 1945. The chronicle of a household, a family, and a journey of religious faith—an elegy for a vanishing world—Waugh's masterwork was a tribute and testimony to a family he had fallen in love with a decade earlier. The Lygons of Madresfield were every bit as glamorous, eccentric, and fascinating as their fictional
Brideshead counterparts, their story just as compelling, filled with secrets and betrayals, scandals and unwavering love.
Mad World is Paula Byrne's innovative and engrossing biography of Evelyn Waugh, recalling the loves and obsessions that shaped his world and his writing, capturing Waugh through the friendships that mattered most to him, and exploring how he encoded the defining experiences of his adult life in his greatest literary work.
Synopsis
A terrifically engaging and original biography of one of Englands greatest novelists, Evelyn Waugh, and the glamorous, eccentric, debauched, and ultimately tragic family that provided him with the most significant friendships of his life and inspired his masterpiece, Brideshead Revisited. Fans of The Mitfords, D.J. Taylors Bright Young People, and Alexander Waughs Fathers and Sons, as well as Anglophiles in general, will find much to savor in Paula Byrnes wonderful Mad World.
About the Author
Paula Byrne is the author of Perdita, a highly acclaimed biography of eighteenth-century celebrity Mary Robinson. A regular contributor to the Times Literary Supplement and other publications, she lives in Warwickshire, England, with her three children and her husband, the critic and biographer Jonathan Bate.