Anglo-Saxon Attitudes – Angus Wilson

I have developed a distinct affection for famous-at-the-time-but now-deeply-unfashionable posh English authors of the 1930s-50s. Wilson is very much of that ilk, somewhere between Anthony Powell and LP Hartley.

The plot revolves around an archaeological dig that took place decades before the action of the novel, which sets up a neat thematic riff about how well we can ever understand the past and the tricks that time can play on us.

The first half seems all over the place, introducing multiple characters with seemingly little connection between them, but once a key revelation is made things come into focus and the story becomes an investigation into the past, reminiscent of John Le Carré classic Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.