Life at Hetton Abbey is pleasant but monotonous. 

Tony Last loves the gothic mansion and its large estate. To him, it represents not only his family history but also a certain way of country living, where he is only a small link in a large chain, the temporary caretaker, a position inherited by his father and to be passed on to his son. 

His wife, Brenda, appears to be content with their quiet life, but after a social weekend, she begins to long for something else; the fast pace of London and another way of living, beyond what her family can offer. 

She takes a lover and a flat in the city, creating a parallel existence for herself, in which there is no room for her former family.

Left in the countryside is Tony, at first not realizing that his wife has rejected him, and their young son John Andrew, blissfully unaware that his mother has forgotten him. 

The change from comedy to tragedy can occur in less than a second. 

Someone crossing the street without looking, a conversation overheard by the wrong person, a sudden and thoughtless action that comes with lifelong consequences. 

For the Last family, the shift from a careless and loving life comes in two steps, unrelated but with devastating effects for those involved.

The charm of Evelyn Waugh’s writing is in the lightness of his prose, combined with his astute dramaturgic sense. 

Even when outlining the most horrific events, the tonality of his words makes them initially appear less damaging, so that it takes a few seconds for the reader to fully understand the magnitude of what happened. 

The unravelling of the Last family, set against a backdrop of privileged English countryside, self-centred aristocratic socialites, and eventually the vast, dense Brazilian jungle, unfolds progressively, so that you don’t realize the gradual shift. 

Initially considered a comic novel by the critics, later scholars have emphasized its dark undertones, foreshadowing Waugh’s later post-war fiction.