Some of these sections trace Nick’s romantic and sexual adventures, while others concentrate on the Feddens Gerald Fedden, the patriarch, is a wealthy Conservative MP who becomes embroiled in financial and sexual scandals. The novel proceeds by means of a number of more or less independent sections loosely linked by the overarching story concerning Nick’s status within the Fedden family. After graduation, he is invited to stay indefinitely at Toby’s parents’ home in London, initially as a friend, then as an informal carer for Toby’s sister, Catherine, who has bipolar disorder. Nick quickly tries to ingratiate himself into Toby’s home life in an effort to spend more time in his company.

While studying at Oxford he develops a crush on a fellow student, Toby Fedden, a scion of a minor branch of the English aristocracy. The novel’s protagonist, Nick Guest, is the product of a middle-class family from Northamptonshire. It won the Man Booker prize in the year it was published, 2004.

The Line of Beauty is a historical novel the story takes place between 19, though the action is not continuous. Well, against the odds (usually when I faithfully promise something on this blog, it either fails to appear, or limps in weeks late), I’ve finished the book, and even managed to cobble together some vaguely coherent things to say about it in a review. I chose The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst to go first, mainly because I was already about two-thirds of the way through it when I had the idea. A short while ago, I announced my intention of trying to read (and then review on the blog) a new book once a month.

The line of beauty by alan hollinghurst