This biography of Evelyn Waugh traces the career of a writer who, though respected, was always controversial and undoubtedly eccentric. In particular it focuses on his difficult relationship with his father, his homosexual affair at Oxford, his unhappy first marriage to Evelyn Gardner, his years of sexual adventure before his second marriage, his attitude to the Church, his conversion to Catholicism, his disastrous relationship with the military, and his enduring but difficult friendships with his three favourite women - Nancy Mitford, Diana Cooper and Ann Fleming.