The Acceptance World

‘He is, as Proust was before him, the great chronicler of his culture in his time.’ Guardian

‘One of the greatest pleasures of my reading life.’ Michael Palin

‘A unique joy to read.’ Sunday Times

‘A Dance to the Music of Time’ is universally acknowledged as one of the great works of English literature. Now in the first volume’s 75th anniversary year, this twelve-volume series is ready to delight and entrance a new generation of readers.

In this third volume, determined to make a name for himself, Nick Jenkins starts working for a publisher, establishing connections across the London literary scene. But whilst Nick is ready to move forwards with his new life, the past is never far behind.

A weekend away with his friend Templer sees a surprise reunion quickly blossom into an affair, while an Old Boys dinner at the Ritz in honour of their old housemaster, Le Bas, reunites Nick with his old schoolmates Stringham and Widmerpool. Set against the backdrop of 1930s London, The Acceptance World lays bare the complicated nature of young love.

Praise for A Dance to the Music of Time’
‘A world as rich as Joyces on the one hand and P. G. Wodehouse’s on the other.’ Guardian
‘One of the great novel-sequences in English Literature.’ William Boyd
‘One of the greatest pleasures of my reading life.’ Michael Palin
‘An epic, elegant masterpiece.’ Lauren Groff
‘A joyous experience.’ Roddy Doyle
‘An intricately wrought work of art.’ John Banville
‘The finest long comic novel that England has produced.’ Anthony Burgess
‘Mr Powell’s imagination is inexhaustible.’ Evelyn Waugh
‘One of English fiction’s few twentieth-century masterpieces.’ London Review of Books
‘There is no other novelist whose work gives so much or such consistent pleasure.’ Times Literary Supplement