What`s Become of Waring - A Novel

WHAT S BECOME OF WARING (1939) satirizes a small independent publisher in London run by two brothers who don t get along. It s told from the point of view of a young man who reads manuscripts for them and assists the younger brother in undermining the elder s authority. Here Powell brilliantly pokes fun, not just at certain types, but at timeless human failings: self-satisfaction, pride, delusion, arrogance, lust, sloth, greed, and cowardice. The action zooms around from London homes to the South of France, and back. This is the funniest of Powell s early novels, involving a missing best-selling author, wild coincidences, mistaken identity, romance, whacky surprises and a satisfying close.'