The Kindly Ones (Powell Novel)
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''The Kindly Ones'' (1962) is a novel by
Anthony Powell Anthony Dymoke Powell ( ; 21 December 1905 – 28 March 2000) was an English novelist best known for his 12-volume work ''A Dance to the Music of Time'', published between 1951 and 1975. It is on the list of longest novels in English. Powell' ...
that forms the sixth in his twelve-volume sequence,
A Dance to the Music of Time ''A Dance to the Music of Time'' is a 12-volume ''roman-fleuve'' by English writer Anthony Powell, published between 1951 and 1975 to critical acclaim. The story is an often comic examination of movements and manners, power and passivity in Eng ...
. The book's title relates to the placatory name given to the
Furies The Erinyes ( ; sing. Erinys ; grc, Ἐρινύες, pl. of ), also known as the Furies, and the Eumenides, were female chthonic deities of vengeance in ancient Greek religion and mythology. A formulaic oath in the ''Iliad The ''Il ...
of
Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...
and chiefly addresses the period just before and after Britain enters
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.


Plot

The novel is divided into four episodes, of which the first takes place at Stonehurst during the boyhood of Nick Jenkins on the eve of
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. This introduces some of the figures encountered in earlier instalments of the sequence. They include the retired General Conyers, who tactfully handles the nude appearance among them of a parlour maid unhinged by jealousy at the news that the family servant Albert is going to get married. As the General is leaving Stonehurst after lunch there is the chance conjunction with him in the road of the eccentric cultist Dr. Trelawney and Nick's Uncle Giles. The story then returns to the time sequence of the novel series, with another lunch at the second episode's centre. Nick and his wife Isobel are staying with his composer friend Moreland and are included in the invitation to a meal with Sir Magnus Donners at Stourwater Castle. They are driven there by Nick's old school friend Peter Templer, whom has not seen for a long while. Sir Magnus has recently taken up photography and the party agrees to portray for him the
seven deadly sins The seven deadly sins, also known as the capital vices or cardinal sins, is a grouping and classification of vices within Christian teachings. Although they are not directly mentioned in the Bible, there are parallels with the seven things ...
depicted on the drawing room tapestries. This culminates in the mental breakdown of Templer's second wife, again by reason of sexual jealousy. Just then Kenneth Widmerpool calls on business and is persuaded to drive the visitors home. Following his uncle's death, Nick journeys down to arrange for his cremation and stays overnight at the Bellevue, the dingy seaside hotel now kept by Albert in which Uncle Giles had been living. Also staying there is Bob Duport, the former husband of Peter Templer's sister Jean, with whom Nick had had a secret affair years before. Duport has been the victim of Widmerpool's business ruthlessness and is hiding from his creditors. When he and Nick return from an evening's drinking, they have to rescue Dr. Trelawney, yet another of the Bellevue residents, from the bathroom in which he has trapped himself. Afterwards he prophesies that "the sword of Mithras…will ere long flash from its scabbard", when once more "the Angel of Death will ride the storm". On the day of Nick's return, news breaks that the
Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact , long_name = Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , image = Bundesarchiv Bild 183-H27337, Moskau, Stalin und Ribbentrop im Kreml.jpg , image_width = 200 , caption = Stalin and Ribbentrop shaking ...
had been signed. Once World War 2 begins, Nick, who is in his thirties, tries to find a regiment which will take him as an officer. He makes unsuccessful approaches to General Conyers, and to Widmerpool, already a reserve officer in the Territorial Army. While calling on his relation by marriage, Lady Molly, he encounters the now homeless Moreland whose wife Matilda, a former mistress of Sir Magnus Donners, has returned to and is now about to marry Sir Magnus. Also staying in the house and processing the papers of Reservists is Stanley Jeavons, the brother of Lady Molly's husband, who agrees to speed through Nick's call-up. {{DEFAULTSORT:Kindly Ones, The Novels by Anthony Powell A Dance to the Music of Time 1962 British novels Fiction set in 1938 Fiction set in 1939 Heinemann (publisher) books