Warning: Spoilers ahead

On the back cover it says this book is chiefly based on a period in Huxley’s life when he lived in Italy. I suppose he is the character of Phillip Quarles, who has a game leg and was excluded from the war, much as Huxley was. After this I will go read it up on Wikipedia.

The book meanders through a quagmire of literary, artistic and political opinions of a group of friends, much under the influence of Rampion, who they all seem to gravitate to and make attempts to prove to him their own silly versions of reality. The book ends in death. The killing of a man that is made to be silly and disgusting, for his political ideas, and the death of a small boy, in much pain. There is also a lot of adultery in the book, as a matter of course for nearly all the characters. The men seem not much tortured by the thought of betraying their spouses, and this is counter balanced by the feelings of Elinor, who thinks of running away with the murdered man, but was tortured by the thought of leaving her husband, who she really loved despite his coldness. The other counterbalance being Lucy Tantamount, who is a crocodilian, antediluvian creature free of the morass of the moral kingdom, and devours her lovers as individually wrapped delicacies provided for her enjoyment only.