A Handful of Dust

A Handful of Dust is Evelyn Waugh's 1934 satirical novel that traces the unraveling of an English country gentleman's life through infidelity, betrayal, and social disintegration. The narrative follows Tony Last, a man devoted to his ancestral estate and his wife Brenda, whose marriage fractures when she pursues a affair with a younger man. What emerges is a portrait of moral collapse rendered with Waugh's characteristic dark wit and precise social observation.

Published during the interwar period, the novel captures the dissolution of traditional English values and the emptiness beneath the surface of upper-class society. The title, drawn from T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land, suggests the futility of seeking meaning in a crumbling world. Waugh's sharp dialogue and controlled irony examine themes of fidelity, class, and the persistence of social ritual in the face of genuine human suffering. The novel concludes with an ending that offers no redemption, only acceptance of life's fundamental absurdity.

• Author: Evelyn Waugh
• Publication Year: 1934
• Genre: Satire / Literary Fiction
• Length: Approximately 310 pages
• Setting: England, primarily the countryside and London society

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