The 9th book I read this year was ‘Brideshead Revisited’ by Evelyn Waugh. I loved this book instantly. Beautiful writing and complicated characters in complicated situations in a complicated time. It is not often that find myself immersed in a book quite so quickly and quite so deeply.

As for a simple outline, this book published in 1945, explores themes of love, loss, faith, and the decline of the British aristocracy. The story is narrated by Charles Ryder, a middle-class man who becomes entwined with the aristocratic Flyte family, as he reminisces about his past experiences and the impact they had on his life. But there is so much more to this than a mere nostalgic high. I absolutely fell in love with the beautiful writing, the wit, and the plot devices that subtly but surely go so much beyond what is simply written. Wrapped in Waugh’s gorgeous prose. His characters that you can enjoy in a very British way – from a distance without getting close. The time is both wonderful and deeply painful. A time when the upper class can both live like kings but also not really be able to pursue love and any real sort of happiness. Everyone seems to be stifling in this claustrophobia of aristocracy, decency, and religion. Only winner is rhetoric. And at least that.

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