At Lady Molly's by Anthony Powell

 I passed through empty streets thinking that I, too, should be married soon, a change that presented itself in terms of action rather than reflection, the mood in which even the most prudent often marry: a crisis of delight and anxiety, excitement and oppression.

--Anthony Powell, At Lady Molly's (1957)

At Lady Molly's is the fourth volume of the twelve volumes of Powell's Dance to the Music of Time.  Narrator Nicholas Jenkins is in his twenties, this volume taking place around 1934 (Powell seldom mentions dates in these volumes), and working as a scriptwriter for "quota quickies" (low-budget British films).  Jenkins briefly meets the woman, Isobel Tolland, who at first sight he decides he will marry.  Meanwhile he is enjoying nightclubs and jazz joints, though not drinking as much as many of his colleagues, including other members of the Tolland family as well as contemporaries such as Quiggin and of course Widmerpool, whose plan to marry Mildred Haycock goes disastrously wrong.  The novel centers around Lady Molly Jeavons, who knows everyone from the friends of Jenkins's parents to the extended families of the Lovells and the Tollands.

This volume is a beautifully and ironically described detailed scenario about the lives and loves of some member of the British upper and middle classes in the 1930's (Powell was born in 1905), the places where they live and the things that they do.