Anthony Powell's The Kindly Ones 1962 and Hilary Spurling's Invitation to the Dance 1977

 I had told Albert I would find my own way to the bedroom, which was some floors up.  It was small, dingy, facing inland.  The sea was in any case visible from the Bellevue -- in spite of its name -- only from the attic windows, glimpsed through a gap between two larger hotels, though the waves could be heard clattering against the shingle.  Laid out on the bed were a couple of well-worn suits; three or four shirts, frayed at the cuff; half a dozen discreet, often-knotted ties; darned socks (who had darned them?); hankerchiefs embroided with the initials GDJ (who had embroidered them?); thick woolen underclothes; two pairs of pyjamas of unattractive pattern; two pairs of shoes, black and brown; bedroom slippers worthy of Albert; a raglan overcoat; a hat; an unrolled umbrella; several small boxes containing equipment such as studs and razor blades.  That was what Uncle Giles had left behind him.  No doubt there was more of the same sort of thing at the Ufford.  The display was a shade depressing.

Anthony Powell, The Kindly Ones (U. of Chicago Press, 1962)

The Kindly Ones is the sixth volume of Powell's twelve-volume Dance to the Music of Time and includes narrator Nicholas Jenkins in its events more than the previous five volumes, starting out with Jenkins's childhood just before the beginning of World War I and returning to 1938 and 1939, as WW II is looming.  This volume is particularly droll, as some of the characters return from Jenkins's childhood, including Albert the cook and cult leader Dr. Trelawney, who gets stuck in a hotel bathroom.  Jenkins meets his old friend Bob Duport at the Bellevue and they have long and amusing conversations as Jenkins worries about whether Duport knows about Jenkins's affair with Jean Templer, who was married at the time to Duport.  Of course Kenneth Widmerpool turns up, already a captain in the army, and won't help hasten Jenkins's call-up as war edges closer..

This is my second time through Dance to the Music of Time and I still have difficulty keeping the characters straight as they come and go, as I make long pauses between volumes.  I highly recommend Hilary Spurling's Invitation to the Dance:  A Handbook to Anthony Powell's A Dance to the Music of Time; it includes a character index, a place index and synopses of each volume.  Spurling has also written an excellent biography of Powell, which I briefly reviewed on May 29, 2018.