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Anthony Powell
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The Valley of Bones (A Dance of Music and Time) Kindle Edition

by Anthony Powell (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.4 out of 5 stars 112 ratings

Anthony Powell’s universally acclaimed epic A Dance to the Music of Time offers a matchless panorama of twentieth-century London. Now, for the first time in decades, readers in the United States can read the books of Dance as they were originally published—as twelve individual novels—but with a twenty-first-century twist: they’re available only as e-books.

World War II has finally broken out, and The Valley of Bones (1964) finds Nick Jenkins learning the military arts. A stint at a training academy in Wales introduces him to the many unusual characters the army has thrown together, from the ambitious bank clerk-turned-martinet, Gwatkin, to the hopelessly slovenly yet endearing washout, Bithel. Even during wartime, however, domestic life proceeds, as a pregnant Isobel nears her term and her siblings’ romantic lives take unexpected turns—their affairs of the heart lent additional urgency by the ever-darkening shadow of war.

"Anthony Powell is the best living English novelist by far. His admirers are addicts, let us face it, held in thrall by a magician."--ChicagoTribune

"A book which creates a world and explores it in depth, which ponders changing relationships and values, which creates brilliantly living and diverse characters and then watches them grow and change in their milieu. . . . Powell's world is as large and as complex as Proust's."--Elizabeth Janeway, New YorkTimes

"One of the most important works of fiction since the Second World War. . . . The novel looked, as it began, something like a comedy of manners; then, for a while, like a tragedy of manners; now like a vastly entertaining, deeply melancholy, yet somehow courageous statement about human experience."--Naomi Bliven, New Yorker

“The most brilliant and penetrating novelist we have.”--Kingsley Amis

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  1. Book 7 of 12
    A Dance to the Music of Time
  2. Print length
    256 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    The University of Chicago Press
  5. Publication date
    December 1, 2010
  6. File size
    2.7 MB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B004DNWDQE
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ The University of Chicago Press (December 1, 2010)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ December 1, 2010
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2.7 MB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 out of 5 stars 112 ratings

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Anthony Powell

Anthony Powell

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4.4 out of 5 stars
112 global ratings

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Top reviews from the United States

  • sharyn
    5.0 out of 5 stars excellent series
    Reviewed in the United States on January 14, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    im cheating and writing the same review for each of these 12 books because the reasons i love them are the same for each

    if you love proust, evelyn waugh, atonement and the like - then you will love these books - they are a wonderful - principally internal monologue/dialogue based - stroll through the middle of the 20th century - nothing much happens, nobody is particularly happy, but it's fascinating in any case

    although - there's a chance that - given my love for long series - i may just love these because there's 12 of them...
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  • B. A. C. R.
    4.0 out of 5 stars War Has Come
    Reviewed in the United States on January 28, 2018
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    Almost entirely new characters but the same Nick Jenkins. Just kind of swept through life as an observer of his own fate. Still enjoyable.
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  • d b slatyer
    5.0 out of 5 stars to me they are all great. a fantastic read
    Reviewed in the United States on September 13, 2015
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    I've now read the whole series and am reluctant to single out any one book .
    to me they are all great .
    a fantastic read , complex thinking on simple lives .
    a proper "page turner" that I have to keep putting down to think about
    the impressive word arrangement in some sentence or just try to
    absorb the situation/circumstance just described .
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  • Sally A. Kitt Chappell, PhD
    5.0 out of 5 stars Army life seen from within
    Reviewed in the United States on March 21, 2019
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    An unusual section of the. Series, this book is an insightful take on what it is like for a literary type to be a low ranking officer in war time.
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  • John C. Cravey
    3.0 out of 5 stars This is the Army, Mr. Jenkins
    Reviewed in the United States on July 22, 2017
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    This one is a step down from THE KINDLY ONES. Unfortunately, there’s a return to the long, nebulous passage. Powell is better at this than most writers, but they’re still long, nebulous passages. Still, there’s plenty to offset it. In fact, in my opinion this book is tied for second place with AT LADY MOLLY’S in the series.

    World War II arrives and now Nick is a British Army officer, but you’d never know there’s a war on. There are no passages depicting combat and only two casualties are mentioned, including Nick’s brother-in-law, Robert. This book is about training and getting accustomed to military life. And, apart from the two casualties, the focus is on war’s tendency to destroy marriages and relationships.

    There are two main parts to the story, Nick’s experiences in the regiment and Nick in transit. In the regiment there are some interesting portraits of the Welsh soldiers who are not quite comical and not quite tragic. Captain Gwatkin is more of a tragic figure and very interesting.

    The transit parts mostly cover trains, training in Aldershot and Nick’s time with his family while on leave. This is the best part of the book. Here we meet the enigmatic David Pennistone and the charming Odo Stevens. This part is also where Jimmy Brent describes his affair with Jean Duport to Nick, unaware that Nick had an affair with her too. Top notch.

    3 stars
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  • Francis M Oates
    5.0 out of 5 stars Part of a wonderful series of novels
    Reviewed in the United States on October 20, 2017
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    Part of a wonderful series of novels. They should be read in sequence from the beginning, it's a great experience.
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  • David Giard
    4.0 out of 5 stars Autumn cycle and WWII begins
    Reviewed in the United States on July 3, 2020
    The Valley of Bones begins the second half of Anthony Powell's epic 12-volume cycle "A Dance to the Music of Time".

    It is 1940 and Narrator Nick Jenkins is now in the army and England is now at war with Germany. Nick travels with his outfit to Wales and Ireland but returns to London for a weekend leave to attend a cocktail party with his pregnant wife.

    For most of this series, Nick has interacted almost exclusively with his own class - the British middle/upper class and the London arts community. But in "Valley", he meets many people outside his social stratum. This gives us a peek into a different part of society in England. The enlisted soldiers are drawn from working men, while the officers were bank managers and other professionals.

    Powell includes satire of the military, from the incompetent general to the drunken aid.

    This is a good opening to the 3-volume World War II cycle.
    One person found this helpful
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  • PuroShaggy
    5.0 out of 5 stars War begins and life continues as always
    Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2012
    A quote by French poet Alfred de Vigny paraphrased in the final pages of "The Valley of the Bones", the seventh book in Anthony Powell's "A Dance to the Music of Time", best sums up the action (or non-action) included in this first part of the third movement: The whole point of soldiering is its bloody boring side.
    War has arrived and as England prepares for what looks like an invasion by Germany, our narrator Nick Jenkins finds himself in the army, busy training amidst a new set of eccentric and engaging characters. While this book starts off a little more intensely than the previous ones, with the war and the seriousness of such an affair dominating the tone, the realities of being a soldier- waiting, training, waiting some more, boredom- quickly take over and Nick's military life soon becomes a mirror image of his civilian life. Soldiers are stressed because of marital problems back home. Commanders are enamored with local women and making strategic mistakes because of it. Bitter rivalries dating back decades resurface and, as always, ghosts from Nick's past- Stringham, Templer, and, of course, Widmerpool- pop up either in conversation or in person, having a direct impact on Nick's life.
    Reducing military life to a microcosm of life in the "real world", Powell has written another hilarious and multi-layered book in his complex, twelve part epic. Some of the most interesting characters yet are introduced in "The Valley of the Bones", and while the more serious tone of the second movement should logically continue now that war has arrived, the opposite is in fact the case. Like Joseph Heller's epic "Catch-22" (but not quite as farcical), this book dwells on the more ridiculous side of war, emphasizing its human elements and showing how we, as social beings, strive to make the abnormal normal.
    Seven books into the series and Powell is still working his magic, producing another compelling and memorable chapter in the life of Nick Jenkins.
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Martin Jones
    5.0 out of 5 stars Picking Your Battles
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 15, 2021
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    The Valley of Bones is the seventh instalment in Anthony Powell’s twelve volume account of life amongst the twentieth century London smart set - though now with the Second World War underway, life is not so smart anymore. Our narrator, Nick Jenkins, is a junior army officer, looking after a platoon of men training for combat. In these circumstances champagne is a cup of tea after getting hungry and wet conducting mock reconnaissance in the Northern Ireland countryside.

    For me, The Valley of Bones was reminiscent of other great novels of military life - From Here To Eternity, The Naked And The Dead, or War And Peace. In all of these books the military becomes a kind of magnifying glass through which we can view the relationship of order and disorder in society. For all these novels the order part of things isn’t about legendary commanders making world-shaking decisions; while the disorder aspect isn’t just about spectacular battles. In fact, these famous military novels tend to focus on small details, mundane routine, or petty political struggles. Battles might take place, but they are depicted in terms of ordinary people rather than ‘heroes’. It is the same with The Valley Of Bones. The Valley Of Bones has no battles as such. The closest we get is a military exercise where an overzealous commander, trying to do everything by the book, dithers around and gets in a hopeless muddle. That is the kind of combination of order and chaos explored by The Valley Of Bones - it’s all about regulation-folded blankets, getting drunk, falling in love with inappropriate local girls, forgetting helmets on parade and investigating stolen cheese.

    So if you’re looking for an actioner this might not be the book for you. However, as Nick says at one point:

    “Action might have confused the issue by proving too exciting. Action is, after all, exciting rather than interesting.”

    This is definitely a book offering interest rather than action,

    The title of The Valley Of Bones comes from a biblical passage, about piles of bones in a valley coming to life as an army, once God breathes life into them. This miraculous transformation is a bit like expecting people made of printed words on the pages of a book to suddenly take on a life of their own. But Powell’s characters do come to life - not because they are military supermen, but because they are people. Once again the interest of The Valley Of Bones derives from its depiction of recognisable daily life rather than spectacular action. If you accept this, then The Valley Of Bones will be up there with the great military novels. I really enjoyed it.
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  • James Brydon
    5.0 out of 5 stars Powell excels himself as Nick Jenkins goes to war.
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 21, 2014
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    This seventh volume of Anthony Powell's majestic semi-autobiographical roman fleuve opens with Nicholas Jenkins arriving in North Wales to join his regiment in the very early days of the Second World War. he has managed to secure a commission as a second lieutenant, and finds himself under the command of Rowland Gwatkin. Before the war Gwatkin had worked in a bank in Wales (most of the members of the 'other ranks' in the regiment were drawn from the same area where they had been miners) and he seems to have a romantic fascination with every aspect of army life, though he seldom demonstrates the skill to carry things through.

    This is the first of three volumes of 'A Dance to the Music of Time' that cover the Second World War, and, taken together they constitute one of the finest accounts of that conflict. Jenkins does not see active service in any theatre of war, and spends much of his time engage in routine regimental duties, but this gives him a marvellous opportunity to exercise his laconic observation.

    Among Jenkins's fellow subalterns are Idwal Kedward, an ambitious and capable young man endowed with extraordinarily blunt speech, and Bithel (we never learn his forename) a down at heel opportunist who is wholly out of his depth but desperate to perform as well as he can. Bithel's greatest problems arise from his occasional but ferocious drunkenness and the various myths he has promulgated about himself and his background (claims to be a brother of the officer of that name who secured a VC in the 1914-18 War, and to have played rugby for Wales in his youth are just two examples).

    The character of Bithel is a prime example of Powell's dexterity at blending humour with an underlying melancholy (perhaps the emotion that most powerfully runs through the whole sequence). Steeped in inadequacy, Bithel somehow manages to overcome, or at least dodge the plethora of challenges that come his way.

    As with most of the rest of the novels in this sequence, nothing much happens, but the book is utterly gripping. Another triumph.
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  • Anne Seaton
    3.0 out of 5 stars Less gripping than Powell's earlier novels
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 17, 2021
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    I haven't finished the novel yet - number 7 in the series of 12 - so the drama and tragedy of fighting are still to come. But these later novels don't match up to Powell's earlier novels in liveliness and invention - however, I may change my mind as I read on.
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  • Mr William Lacey
    5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect, just as I expected
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 31, 2017
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    Perfect , just as I expected.
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  • David John Young
    3.0 out of 5 stars Better the second time
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 27, 2013
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    I didn't enjoy this book on first reading, maybe 20 years ago. It seemed more like wartime memoirs than a novel. This time it was better, because the reappearance of Widmerpool and Stringham seemed better integrated, and the continuity with the end of The Kindly Ones was more apparent. That said, Nick is plunged into a different social and geographical environment, with a different set of characters, many of whom will not reappear in later books. Maybe more could have been made of his return to his Welsh roots.
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