Pomp and Circumstance: A novel

Description

First published in 1960, Pomp and Circumstance, Coward's only novel, was greeted with wide critical acclaim. 'A South Sea Bubble of a book it is, with a Royal Visit expected on the Island of Samolo, and the narrator, a mother of three, dealing with everything from chicken-pox to the amours of a visiting Duchess' (Daily Telegraph); 'If there is anywhere on earth where the old Coward world still credibly lingers on, it is probably a fairly peaceful tropical colony ruled over by a British Governor General . . . Coward's long cast list might have walked out of one of his better comedies' (Evening Standard); 'It is all good, near-clean fun, magnificently readable' (Sunday Times).

Noel Coward was born in Teddington, Middlesex, on 16 December 1899. His professional acting career began in 1911 and his writing career in 1918, and in the '50s he became a cabaret entertainer. In later years he lived in Bermuda and Switzerland, where he turned novelist. He was knighted in 1970, and died in Jamaica in 1973.