The Valley of Bones

A Dance to the Music of Time #7

by Anthony Powell

'He is, as Proust was before him, the great literary chronicler of his culture in his time.' GUARDIAN

'A Dance to the Music of Time' is universally acknowledged as one of the great works of English literature. Reissued now in this definitive edition, it stands ready to delight and entrance a new generation of readers.

In this seventh volume, Britain is at war again and Nick Jenkins must leave his pregnant wife, Isobel, and his life in London, to take up his position as a Second Lieutenant in a Welsh infantry. As Nick grapples with endless regulations and the tedious routines of military life, it is not long before he finds himself in the middle of a dispute between his commanding officer Captain Gwatkin and Lieutenant Bithel. Stationed in Northern Ireland, military life is not what it seems, and Nick finds himself longing for the comforts of home. But when the battalion is transferred to an unknown destination, Nick is met with a familiar face.

Genres: Fiction, Classics, Historical Fiction, War, Novels, British Literature, Literary Fiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1964

About the author

People best know British writer Anthony Dymoke Powell for A Dance to the Music of Time , a cycle of 12 satirical novels from 1951 to 1975.

This Englishman published his volumes of work. Television and radio dramatizations subjected major work of Powell in print continuously. In 2008, The Times newspaper named Powell among their list of "the fifty greatest British writers since 1945."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony...

Reviews

[Kalliope · Rating 5 out of 5]

7.-- THE VALLEY OF BONES

Not Dry.

What I mean is that the title of the Seventh period of The Dance seems to be based on a passage by Ezequiel, but the epithet Dry has not been selected out of the original text.

The Valley of Dry Bones

The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry.  He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” Ezequiel 37: 1-4.

We are then at the beginning of the war, the “comparatively halcyon days” of the bloody war, and the protagonist, Jenkins, has joined the barracks. All the military jargon, the acronyms, the structure, the hierarchy of different ranks etc., was, however, somewhat lost on me.

What was less lost on me was the humour. Against a backdrop of dooming and increasingly terrifying military events, the Dance of a few individuals continues. Germany invades the Netherlands, Churchill becomes Prime Minister in extremis, Belgian Government surrenders, Italy joins the war, and the Germans are in the outskirts of Paris. But all of these are just mentioned--in passing. The focus is in front of the stage, not in the military front. At least for now. And in spite of the mise en scène, this has been one of the funniest volumes so far. The mix of Arthurian elements; the evocations of Tweedledum and Tweedledee; the farce with top ranks obsessively concerned with porridge; the champagne-like quality of a nice cuppa tea; the ridiculous dialogue out of code words, kept me hooked to the book.

But not all was laughter. For this continues to be a meditation about people. Jenkins is the extraordinary observer of others. His own intimate thoughts and feelings remain veiled for the reader. But then we should not be surprised, because one of the traits he sharply always detects is egotism. It baffles him. Before this volume we have already seen him meditating on the immutable characteristics of self-absorption, but he returns to it in the Valley of Bones.

On the more serious tone Powell’s rich references to art (with Viennese Kunsthistorisches with their extraordinary collection of Bruegels), and to literature and philosophy continue. Descartes, Vigny, Byron, Nietzsche have also been given a seat to the Dance.

[Algernon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, Nick Jenkins, you're in the army now! and a change of tune is in order for the seventh installment of the Dance. The almost carnival atmosphere of high society saloon intrigues and romantic entaglements is replaced by a darker, bleaker, all-male world guided by endless regulations and tedious routines. Powell, through the eyes of his perennial narrator Nick, is still able to find humour in his surroundings and in his fellow officers, but the laughs sound hollow when the outcome is more than once a life cut short in its prime.

The opening scene of the present episode reminds me of the black & white, stark style of early German Impressionist movies. The author describes it in terms of the paintings of a French satirist:

A Daumier world of threatening, fiercely slanted shadows, in the midst of which two feeble jets of bluish gas, from which the pungent smell came, gave irregular, ever-changing contours to an amorphous mass of foggy cubes and pyramids.

The new characters introduced now reinforce the impression of tragic farce, of dancing under the gallows pole. An early reference to the Bible serves to explain both the title of the novel and the probable fate of most of the players, here engaged in the still peaceful activities or organizing and training an infantry batallion in the early days of 1940, as the Germans face the Anglo-French forces across the Maginot Line. The novel will deal thus not in dramatic action scenes but in character studies that will define the new society Nick Jenkins has volunteered to join.

The army is at once the worst place for egoists, and the best. Thus it was in many ways the worst for Bithel, always being ordered about and reprimanded, the best for Gwatkin, granted - anyway up to a point - the power and rank he desired.

Nick Jenkins remains true to his own nature : a keen observer and chronicler of his times more than an action figure. He lets the other officers take center stage and define the parameters of the army culture. Captain Gwatkin is a former banker who holds romantic notions of heroism and duty. Second Lieutenant Bithel is an opportunist and a libertine out to make the best of a bad situation. Petty officers and soldiers dance in and out of focus to shine a new light on the old Dance conflict between will and dream. But for now, it is the will that holds the upper hand, and old acquaintances like Widmerpool and Sir Magnus Donners that will rise to the top of the new social structures.

... the army is a world of the will, accordingly, if the will is weak, the army is weak.

Such weaknesses are not immediately apparent as we first meet Gwatkin or Bithel, but the point will be reinforced by the end of the novel. as once again Widmerpool makes a spectacular entrance, Gwatkin pays the price of his self-dellusions of grandeur, and Bithel is sent to a sinecure post where he can do minimal damage

The tone of the novel swings from the absurdly humorous ( "Do you like porridge?" he almost shouted. ) to the bone weary routine of daily trudge, with brief episodes of philosophical musings and an even briefer return to the high society dance of who is sleeping with whom during a weekend leave at a country manor. Here are a few quotes to illustrate the points:

- on the theme of soldierly aptitude: Vigny says a soldier's crown is a crown of thorns, amongst its spikes none more painful than passive obedience. [...] He sees the role of authority as essentially artificial, the army a way of life in which there is as little room for uncontrolled fervour as for sullen indifference. The impetuous volunteer has as much to learn as the unwilling conscript.

- on the theme of boredom and stress, something I remember most vividly from my own brief stint in the armed forces, almost three decades ago : At Castlemallock I knew despair. The proliferating responsibilities of an infantry officer, simple in themselves, yet, if properly carried out, formidable in their minutiae, impose a strain in wartime even on those to whom they are a lifelong professional habit; the excruciating boredom of exclusively male society is particularly irksome in areas at once remote from war, yet opressed by war conditions.

- on the incompatibility between the world of will and the world of romance: All love affairs are differet cases, yet, at the same time, each is the same case. Moreland used to say love was like sea-sickness. For a time everything round you heaved about and you felt you were going to die - then you staggered down the gangway to dry land, and a minute or two later could hardly remember what you suffered, why you had been feeling so ghastly. Gwatkin was at the earlier stage.

The novel ends with the news of the German breakthrough in Belgium and with the first deaths among the family members and officers met in training. This early phase of almost peaceful and comical preparation for slaughter is replaced by the real thing, as from one day to the next arrangements for a marriage lead to an unmarked grave in a foreign country the secretive Robert Tolland and his surprise affair with Flavia Wisebite :

As in musical chairs, the piano stops suddenly, someone is left without a seat, petrified for all time in their atitude of that particular moment.

Nick's own path is heading into unknown territory, the only certainty being the need to adapt to a world ruled by will with Widmerpool as his immediate superior :

Castlemallock was to be left behind. I heard the news without regret; although in the army - as in love - anxiety is an ever-present factor where change is concerned.

As for Gwatkin and Bithel, the two opposite incarnations of the amateur officer, I am sure we will come across them again in a future episode of the Dance, as we did with almost every one of the characters in the series up to now. None of them is wasted or gratuitous in the big picture that Anthony Powell draws for us with such consummate skill and wit:

... it was no good battling against Fate, which, seen in right perspective, almost always provides a certain beauty of design, sometimes even an occasional good laugh.

What is not guaranteed is that these dancers will grow wise from their experiences. Art can provide answers to the big questions of Life and Fate, but only to those willing to listen:

I was impressed for the ten thousandth time by the fact that literature illuminates life only for those to whom books are a necessity. Books are unconvertible assets, to be passed on only to those who possess them already.

This last quote serves as a great companion to the whole Dance sequence, an experience that I have come to cherish and wait with impatience for each monthly installment in our 2016 group read project, an illumination of a momentous part of the twentieth century that teaches a lot of useful lessons to our present generation.

[Vit Babenco · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones… Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the Lord…” Ezekiel 37.
Anthony Powell portrays the army as a legion of resurrected dry bones serving to the god unknown and silently obeying all the commands coming from beyond the clouds…
But those revived warriors don’t forget to have their own intrigues, pursuit their own ambitions, design their various schemes and even contrive love affairs…
“…the heroes of yesterday are the maquereaux of tomorrow.”
The Valley of Bones is laden with effervescent sarcasm that at times viciously turns cynical.

[Ted · Rating 5 out of 5]

The General carried a long stick, like the wand of a verger in a cathedral, and wore a black and brown checked scarf thrown carelessly about his neck. A hunting horn was thrust between the buttons of his battle-dress blouse.




or, if you prefer,





Takes place: First half of 1940.
Jenkins in his early 30s.
Book published: 1964. Anthony Powell was in his late 50s.

Significant characters bold that appear in the very first novel that visit the narrative: Ralph Barnby, General Conyers, Edgar Deacon, Sir Magnus Donners, Bob Duport, Viscount Erridge (usually called Alfred by Jenkins), Pamela Flitton, Amy Foxe (Stringham’s mother), Buster Foxe (third husband of Stringham’s mother), Lady Molly & Ted Jeavons, Uncle Giles, Chips Lovell, Hugh Moreland, Charles Stringham, Jean Templer, Peter Templer, Widmerpool.

Besides these, all nine of Jenkins’ siblings-in-law – the Tolland flock - find places in the narrative, though some only by very brief mention. [in birth order, Viscount Erridge (Alfred), Frederica (Budd), Norah, George, Susan, Blanche, Robert, Isobel (his wife), Hugo and Priscilla.

These brief mentions, for example a memory of something once said by a character, must satisfy many of the continuing characters. With very few exceptions, we have entered an entirely new movement of The Dance, introduced in this book with Jenkin’s first six months in the Army. Britain had declared war on Germany in September 1939, as obliged by terms of the Anglo-Polish military alliance; and British units of the regular Army had soon begun filtering into France.

The narrative here relates Jerkins’ experiences at various locations in England and Northern Ireland as he undergoes training. As could be expected, there are a great number of new characters introduced in the book, some of them with Army sobriquets such as “Jones, D.” and “Williams, T.”; but more important characters are named otherwise, and some of these, besides having roles both minor and major in this book, will find mention, or even parts to play, in the final five volumes.Most particularly, keep in mind Rowland Gwatkin, David Penistone who turns out to be an unnamed young man Jenkins met “a thousand years ago”, in A Buyer’s Market, Lieutenant Bithel and Odo Stevens.

In my review of The Kindly Ones, I suggested that the ending of that book suggested that, “Now real life, the life of the man of action, a life to live intensely, seems about to begin for Jenkins and others of his generation – those who missed the first war, who dodged that assault of the Kindly Ones, must now prepare themselves to experience their fury.”

This view may ultimately prove to have a modicum of validity; yet in the present volume it is definitely not borne out. The Valley of Bones, taking place entirely in the home islands, is concerned with Jenkins interacting with classes and types of men not previously mentioned, as well, of course, as his submersion into the society of warriors. In this society he finds unexpected friendships, as well as anticipated types which both bemuse him and amuse the reader.


but … the book’s title?

The brief description above, and the admission that the fury of the Kindly Ones is not yet unleashed in this volume, does not mean that the ominous title is misleading. It is, rather, a more nuanced reference, not so much to a valley, as to what rises out of a valley.

At the end of the first chapter, Jenkins and other officers attend a service in a local parish church. There, the Church of England padre attached to Jenkins’ battalion, the Rev. Iltyd Popkiss, delivers a sermon - reading directly and at length from Ezekiel: “The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the valley which was full of bones … and the breath came unto them and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army …”

Popkiss concludes his sermon to his listeners, "very quiet in the pitch-pine pews."

Journey with me, my brethren, into that open valley ... Know you not those same dry bones? ... They are our bones, my brethren, the bones of you and me,bones that await the noise and the mighty shaking, the gift of the four winds of which the prophet of old did tell ... Must we not come together, my brethren, everyone of us, as did the bones of that ancient valley, quickened with breath, bone to bone, sinew to sinew, skin to skin … Unless I speak falsely, an exceeding great army …

[Darwin8u · Rating 5 out of 5]

“War is long periods of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror.”
-- old combat adage



Powell's 'The Valley of Bones' is a war novel that has nothing to do with war. Well, that is not right, there are signals that the war is beginning and the Nazis are invading countries in Europe. Nick Jenkins finds himself in command of a platoon training for war with the Germans. His company is a company whose officers are all primarily bankers and whose enlisted ranks seem filled with miners. Instead of a novel about a battle, or valor, or strategy -- we get a novel about marches, stolen rifles, moldy cheese, drinks, fights, and bureaucracy.

Having two brothers and a brother-in-law, a father-in-law, and a father who have all served overseas during the 1st Gulf War, the Afghanistan War, or the War in Iraq, I can attest from their stories that the introductory quote is absolutely true. One of the biggest parts of war is the sitting, the boredom, the drudgery. It is punctuated by insanity and violence, but the violence is rare often only felt by the tip of the spear. The romance of war is both a myth and a lie.

There is a quote that stuck with me from this novel, "A company commander...needs the qualifications of a ringmaster in a first-class circus, and a nanny in a large family" (pg 47).

If the idea of boredom, duty and bureaucracy seems to persuade you to look elsewhere for your Sunday, literary entertainment, you must not yet understand the full appeal of Powell. He is able to examine this reality of the rearguard of war with an eye that picks up little gems about war, the military, and those engaged in war that seem to transcend time and sides. "Looked at calmly, war created a situation in which the individual -- if he wished to be on the winning side -- was of importance only in so much as he contributed to the requirements of the machine, not according to the picturesque figure he cut in the eyes of himself and others" (113).

Anyway, Powell is able to paint a picture of the boredom of war that reminds me of the literary equivalent of the Flemish masters. This novel is not the equivalent of a soldier throwing himself on a grenade. This novel is a painting of three soldiers, hung-over, pealing potatoes in the rain. And yes, even that has its own majesty.

[Manny · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought of this book when I was reading New Moon last week. In Stephenie Meyer's novel, the heroine is abandoned by her boyfriend, whom she believes to be the love of her life, and goes into a black depression. Meyer completely chickens out of describing what this is like. The early parts of the book are arranged as a diary; she just presents four months as empty, with no entries at all. Well, given the general level of her writing skills, she no doubt made a good pragmatic decision, but it is in fact possible to do better than this.

So, let's look at The Valley of Bones, Volume 7 of Powells's utterly brilliant Dance to the Music of Time. The first six books are full of incident. Nick has some memorable adventures at school, gets invited to classy and decadent parties, has a brush with the spirit world, and meets a variety of extraordinary people. Incidentally, it just occurs to me that he's also been recently abandoned by the love of his life. Give me warm, living, treacherous Jean any day in preference to cold, dead, faithful Edward. The scene where she opens the door to him naked is generally agreed to be the focal point of the entire series, and it's no accident that the BBC adaptation started here.

In Volume 7, World War II has broken out, and Nick, who's really too old to serve but feels he has to anyway, has pulled strings to get himself into the Army. The choices were limited, and he's been assigned to a Welsh regiment, stuck in Northern Ireland and doing, basically, nothing very much. Instead of his usual cohort of glittering artists, socialites and eccentric peers, he's surrounded by dull-as-ditchwater miners and clerks, most of whom are ten to twenty years younger than him, and who view him with a mixture of suspicion and contempt.

Stephenie Meyer would probably have given us four or five empty chapters. Powell describes it all, in perfect and understated detail. I remember reading this for the first time (I've since re-read it twice), and thinking how boring it was. About 50 pages in, I suddenly got the point. Of course it's boring. That's what Nick's existence is like. Boredom is also a part of life, and knowing how to deal with it is extremely important. And after a while, he sees, and you do too, that his life isn't nearly as boring as he'd imagined. There are some surprising dramas going on among these, at first sight, incredibly dull people. And the next two books, which have rather more happening, wouldn't be as realistic without the low-key introduction.

But it's true, Powell is probably never going to outsell Meyer, so from that point of view she got it right. Though I still prefer Powell's treatment. As usual in Dance, the moral is that you get what you pay for.

[Nigeyb · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Valley of Bones is Volume 7 of A Dance to the Music of Time and is yet another great instalment in this wonderful 12 novel series which I am now reading for the second time.

The Valley of Bones begins in Wales. It's early 1940, the beginning of World War 2, and narrator Nick Jenkins, having secured a full time role in the army, is with his new platoon. This development heralds the introduction a host of new characters. Indeed, with the exception of a weekend's leave, where we catch up with various members of the Tolland family, and a few other familiar older characters, the entire book is about Nick's new army world.

There are many parallels with Evelyn Waugh's splendid Sword of Honour in particular the tedium, the mix of eclectic and disparate characters having to live in close proximity, and the self-delusion and vanity which accompanied some of the nascent military careers at the onset of war. The most notable character, amongst a host of great cameos, is Captain Gwatkin whose dreams of personal and military ambition are thwarted in a cruel black comedy.

There is one person who is curiously absent from this book, excepting for a few oblique references, however as the book closes there he is in all his idiosyncratic glory - Kenneth Widermpool.

So, onwards and upwards as I move on to The Soldier's Art (A Dance to the Music of Time Volume 8) next month.

4/5

[Diane Barnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now WWII has started, and Nick is thrown into a completely different society. Military life is not exactly what he had thought, by turns boring and insane, with some strange characters in the mix. This installment goes in a much different direction from earlier ones, while still keeping us in the loop with familiar characters from the past. Still enjoying this series immensely, and looking forward to #8.

[Eleanor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This sequence of novels continues to delight. This time, Nick is dealing with the tedium and inefficiencies of being in the army in the early days of the war, nowhere near any active service. The problem of not knowing what a codeword means is wonderfully illustrated when Nick is on phone-answering duty in the Company Office.

"It was Maelgwyn-Jones, Adjutant of our Battalion.
'Fishcake,' he said."
...
After repeats of this:

"'Fishcake, I tell you ...'
I know Leather and Toadstool ...'
'Fishcake has taken the place of Leather - and Bathwater of Toadstool. What the hell are you dreaming about?'"

Nick goes off to see Gwatkin, the captain:

"'But we were not to get Fishcake until we had been signalled Buttonhook.'
'I've never heard of Buttonhook either - or Bathwater. All I know are Leather and Toadstool.'"

Wonderful stuff.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seven books in (so, more than halfway, or on the downhill slope), and, on the one hand, I have no doubt I'll eventually work my through the entirety, while on the other, I also don't see myself dramatically accelerating my rate of consumption anytime soon.

As is the case with many serials, but even more so in this case, I can't fathom reading these out of order. It seems to me that so much of the art - indeed, the genius - of the overall effort is the progression, nah, who am I fo0ling, the dance to the music of time, is the sequential march through the protagonist's life (and the innumerable planets orbiting around him).

Individually, I had hoped to enjoy this one more, given the primarily, almost exclusively, military setting and theme, but, much as I enjoyed it - and it read true to form - I can't say it's one of my favorites. Having said that, the conclusion, specifically, the last few pages, were more gratifying than they were unexpected, and they were a potent reminder of what an intricate mosaic Powell has woven with this, frankly, impressive, remarkable whole.

I'm so glad I found the series when it was re-printed (or, more accurately, re-packaged, on Kindle), and I continue to be impressed by it. When I return to the next installment, after some time away, it's almost like returning home or visiting relatives - weirdly comfortable and strangely voyeuristic - but always somewhat unexpected while being oddly familiar.

Frankly, I'm surprised more Americans haven't (or don't) read it, but, hey, there's a lot of options out there.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the seventh novel in the sequence of twelve books of the series "A Dance to the Music of Time."

It was published in 1964, it is the first of the war trilogy, poignantly capturing the atmosphere of the time whilst offering a subversively comic view of Army life.

Its sequel is "The Soldier's Art."

4* A Question of Upbringing (A Dance to the Music of Time, #1)
4* A Buyer's Market (A Dance to the Music of Time #2)
4* The Acceptance World (A Dance to the Music of Time, #3)
4* At Lady Molly's (A Dance to the Music of Time, #4)
4* Casanova's Chinese Restaurant (A Dance to the Music of Time, #5)
4* The Kindly Ones (A Dance to the Music of Time, #6)
4* The Valley of Bones (A Dance to the Music of Time, #7)
TR The Soldier's Art (A Dance to the Music of Time, #8)
TR The Military Philosophers (A Dance to the Music of Time, #9)
TR Books Do Furnish a Room (A Dance to the Music of Time, #10)
TR Temporary Kings (A Dance to the Music of Time, #11)
TR Hearing Secret Harmonies (A Dance to the Music of Time, #12)

[Connie G · Rating 4 out of 5]

In "The Valley of Bones" Nick Jenkins is a Second Lieutenant in the army. Set in 1940, his regiment has been training in Wales and Northern Ireland. The regiment, composed mostly of former Welsh bankers, has not seen any action yet. Powell includes lots of military humor in this book, as well as some philosophical thoughts about war.

When Nick is on leave from an Aldershot training course, he visits his wife and catches up on the news of his old friends in London (characters from previous books). As usual in this series, Kenneth Widmerpool, Nick's obnoxious school acquaintance, pops up somewhere in the book.

This is one of my favorites in the twelve-volume "A Dance to the Music of Time" which follows the lives of Nick and his English acquaintances from 1914 to 1971. As the story was ending, Nick received the ominous news that the Nazis were marching close to Paris so I anticipate that the next book will have a darker tone to it.

[Katie Lumsden · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this reread. It's a really interesting examination of army life in the Second War World.

[Kim Kaso · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author caught the quotidian nature of serving in the military, the monotonous routine combined with serving with a variety of personalities. Petty politics exacerbate everyday life. Another good entry in the series.

[Realini Ionescu · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Valley of Bones by Anthony Powell



This is a very different story from the other 6 novels, from the first part of A Dance to the Music of Time. World War II breaks out and life in the army is different, even though Nick Jenkins meets a few acquaintances- the annoying Windmerpool for instance.



Humor is not absent, in fact I laughed at the beginning when we met Bithel. There are some teeth in an ashtray….like”clenched teeth on cigar stub- macabre, surrealist effect”.

There is the inspection visit of general Liddament who says there should be porridge at breakfast. But when he asks the soldiers none of them wants it, with one exception.



On a train back from the unit, Jenkins discusses art: his favorite painting – Hunters in the Snow by Brueghel. When he wants to give some advice to Gwatkin, he thinks better of it and says that books and the advice they contain are for those who appreciate them and mean nothing to the others who think nothing of them. Very true indeed.



“Are you hideous, stunted, mentally arrested, sexually maladjusted…you have an evil smell? Then there’s a treat ahead of you…you’re all set for a promising career as a lover “ J



I wonder what the next five novels of the series will be like. I loved what I have read so far, but there is a definite change with Britain entering the war. On the other hand, Anthony Powell has more than proved that he is a great writer; he became a top favorite of mine.

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Valley of Bones is the seventh book in Anthony Powell’s epic twelve novel sequence. With this novel, Powell leaves behind the familiar London streets, the society of large houses and clubs that in the previous six novels we spent so much time. War has come to Europe, and changed everything for many people. As the novel opens in 1940 we find Nicholas Jenkins a Second Lieutenant in Wales. Here we are introduced to a host of new characters including Jenkins’ commanding officer Captain Gwatkin and the alcoholic Lieutenant Bithel. Bithel is a particularly brilliantly drawn character, a figure whose totally inaccurate reputation has apparently preceded him, and to which Bithel himself cannot possibly live up to. Jenkins - considered to be getting on a bit in his mid-thirties, undergoes training in Wales, and along with his battalion colleagues endures the tedium of army life while waiting for military operations to begin. Powell portrays the everyday minutiae of army life, the pranks and squabbles that only momentarily distract these men forced to suddenly live together. This is a different kind of world for Jenkins, and one he manages to fit himself into rather well.

“I indicated that I wrote for the papers, not mentioning books because, if not specifically in your line, authorship is an embarrassing subject for all concerned. Besides, it never sounds like a serious occupation. Up to that moment, no one had pressed inquiries further than that, satisfied that journalism was a known form of keeping body and soul together, even if an esoteric one.”

Jenkins’ battalion is moved to Castlemallock in Ireland, where Captain Gwatkin makes a mistake during an exercise, and there’s an inspection by an absurdly young General Liddament who is hilariously more concerned with whether the men have had porridge for breakfast than with much else. Jenkins is sent to Aldershot to a training course, on route to the course, Nick meets and becomes friendly with David Pennistone – who he vaguely recognises from years earlier. At Aldershot Jenkins meets Odo Stevens, and Jimmy Brent - another figure from the past. Rather uncomfortably Jenkins is required to listen to Brent’s account of his affair with Jean Templer, in a scene reminiscent of a similar one between Jenkins and Duport in The Kindly Ones.

“Even when you have ceased to love someone, that does not necessarily bring an indifference to a past shared together. Besides, though love may die, vanity lives on timelessly. I knew that I must be prepared to hear things I should not like. Yet, although where unfaithfulness reigns, ignorance may be preferable to knowledge, at the same time, once knowledge is brutally born, exactitude is preferable to uncertainty.”

It is Odo Stevens who gives Jenkins a lift to the house of his sister in law Frederica Budd, where Nick’s heavily pregnant wife Isabel is staying. Here Nick is to spend the weekend before heading back to Ireland. Robert Tolland and Priscilla are also staying, and Stevens manages to make something of an impression on Priscilla. At Frederica’s house Jenkins meets other familiar faces, including Umfraville, and Buster who pitches up just as Robert receives news his leave has been cancelled. Back in Ireland, Nick finds that Gwatkin has fallen for the charms of a local barmaid, who doesn’t appear to return his feelings. There is also something of a running battle going on between Bithel and Gwatkin – who is soon replaced. Jenkins is ordered to report to headquarters to meet the DAAG (a military acronym that remains meaningless to me) who naturally turns out to be an old friend. As always I enjoyed my monthly portion of Anthony Powell, however of the seven I have read so far this is the one I liked least. Powell’s world is one I enjoy reading about, his writing is really excellent, the characterisation complex and endlessly fascinating. However all those new characters at the beginning, and the change of place unsettled me more than I had expected, mirroring perhaps the unsettling nature of the changes brought to people by the war. At the same time I am looking forward to discovering what will be next for Nick Jenkins and his friends, and now I have met these new characters at least they will be familiar should I encounter them again. I really found myself missing those familiar old London haunts of the previous novels. Powell remains endlessly readable however, and my reading of this novel may well have been affected by my extreme tiredness, which makes remembering new characters more of a challenge.

[Tom Ewing · Rating 5 out of 5]

A pleasure to return to Anthony Powell's series, which begins its wartime, 'Autumn' trilogy with a novel centred on the haphazard bureaucracy of the early Second World War and an almost entirely new cast. As is usually the case, the arc of one particular character gives the book its individual shape within the sequence - in this case, the truncated military career of Rowland Gwatkin, Welsh bank employee turned eager officer.

While the narrator, Nick Jenkins, has joined up out of duty and reacts to the necessary pettiness of military life with stoicism, Gwatkin, his Commander, is a man keen to make an impression. As it turns out, Gwatkin is looking to make good on the unspoken frustrations of his life and fulfil an inarticulate need for a fresh start. If you've read the previous books in the series, however, you'll know which way to bet on a Powell character's ability to change.

War provides an interruption in cast and scene, and much broader comedy after the more finely observed jousting of the 'Summer' books. But Jenkins' (and Powell's) observations and self-reflections are as astute as ever, and The Valley Of Bones never feels like a break in its narrator's journey. Gwatkin and the rest of the military cast are an opportunity to reflect on what makes a good soldier - but ultimately this is a novel of work as much as war, and like all the books in the dance, a novel about ageing. For the first time the characters of Jenkins' generation are seen in steady contrast with much younger newcomers, and begin to divide into those whose lives retain momentum (the dreadful Widmerpool naturally included) and those who are beginning to simply run down.

[Debby Binns · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book much more on the second reading. Nick is in the army and posted with a Welsh regiment. As with many books in this series we are thrown in from the beginning with a set of new characters. However, the beginning of Valley of Bones does this with a vengeance, and the characters do not disappoint.
We are dealing with war in this book - which is obviously a serious matter. However, we do get our usual humorous outlook at events and I did find myself laughing out loud at several points. He is particularly good on pointing out the boringness and futility of much of army life, with endless paperwork and administration.

[Corey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this series. It's as rich as any fiction I've read and the deeper one goes into the 12-novel cycle the better it gets.

[Sammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘No porridge?’
‘No porridge, sir.’
General Liddament pondered this assertion for some seconds in resentful silence. He seemed to be considering porridge in all its aspects, bad as well as good. At last he came out with an unequivocal moral judgement.
‘There ought to be porridge,’ he said.

In my review of The Kindly Ones, I said that the carnival of Europe was over after that heartbreaking day in September 1939. Here, however, in the 7th volume of Powell's Dance to the Music of Time, the carousel is still moving. The calliope is starting to wheeze, true. The horses' faces have taken on a slightly macabre appearance in the fading neon lights. But there is still merriment.

The Valley of Bones follows Nicholas Jenkins after he enlists in the army, posted to his Welsh regiment (training primarily in Northern Ireland) during 1940. The war is still an unknown quantity; there is little talk here of being posted overseas or of the grim horrors taking place on the continent. Instead, Powell's knack for deft character sketches, moments of high comedy, and comedies of errors proliferate. Aside from a brief stopover in London - where some old scenes are reframed in a new light - and the ominous final few pages, we see nothing of existing characters from Nick's background. This is a new war, a new world, and we are successfully estranged from his previous world.

It is almost exclusively a comic novel, with a tiny number of pathos-laden passages baked in - especially the death of a supporting character reported from the continent. More tellingly, the final scene is the first time that Powell has left a book without a feeling of independent closure. War does not offer such certainties.

This is wonderful stuff. As always, at least for readers who are (like me) younger and/or not British, I heartily recommend the unabridged recording of the novels by Simon Vance. So much of the dialogue in these books was designed to recall people - either specific individuals or more often well-known types from the era. Three generations and half a globe removed from Powell, I find Vance indispensable in introducing me to the speech patterns of these characters, and through their speech their personality - especially here, where dialect plays such an important role. I will feel more comfortable returning to the Dance - as I know I will several times - now that I have grasped the characters in all their complexity.

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the 7th book in Powell's 12 volume A Dance to the Music of Time and it as interesting as all of the books that preceded it. This book begins during the so-called phony war (late 1939 until the spring of 1940) where the narrator of the series Nick Jenkins finds himself commanding a platoon of British infantryman at a military base in England. At no point in the novel does Jenkins or his compatriots come anywhere near seeing military action.
Powell effortlessly captures the boring mundanity of military life in what amounts to peace time conditions. The British society that Nick Jenkins maneuvers through in the previous six books is largely absent here. Jenkins goes on leave and visits his pregnant wife Isobel and various other members of her family as well as the charming reprobate Dicky Umfraville who seizes a chance to advance himself at the expense of Commander Buster Foxe

Jenkins finds himself interacting with a host of soldiers who are clearly in a different strata of British society but the novel focuses of his interactions with his fellow officers. Company commander Roland Gwatkin, a banker in civilian life envisions the life of a warrior but fails in matters military and romantic. There is also the idiot alcoholic Bithel who lacks any social graces and is booted out of the company via promotion to command the regimental laundry.
At the very end of the novel Jenkins is promoted to divisional headquarters at the behest of the ubiquitous Kenneth Widemerpool who needs a loyal associate to assist him in his never ending efforts to advance himself in British society. Jenkins agrees to accept this role as it is reported that the German are outside of Paris.

[Catullus2 · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book mostly documents army life during WWII. However did we win?

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

With Britain on the precipice of full immersion into WW2. I thought it might give Powell the chance to expand his style and take his characters into environments they wouldn't be comfortable with. The jolt of living a relatively upper class existence and at once being thrust into a situation where they would be interacting and depending on people from all walks of life, I found an interesting prospect. Unfortunately that is yet to happen. Despite the drastic change in situation, the style and focus of narration does not change as one might expect. This is largely because Nick is stationed in training throughout the novel and therefore the story is centred on the intermittent relationships that Nick establishes there.

The focus of this instalment seemed to be on the farcical nature of military structure. This is a common theme in both the novels and memoirs that I've read that cover war. The lampooning of activity for activity's sake and the general chaos of bureaucracy under strict secrecy, all make an appearance and with humourless effect. If this is what you were hoping for at this point in The Dance, then it's likely that you will enjoy this next stage in Nick's life and the new characters he meets. But personally, it all felt a little too pleasant for its own good.

As Nick constantly reiterates throughout the series, he is largely only concerned in his own life and immediate surroundings. There's certainly human truth here, but at times it's like a war isn't even going on. The reports that filter through regarding failed military operations are internalised and brushed off with little or no emotion. In many ways, it seems Powell has resolutely transposed the upper class life to the army, where almost all his characters are kept out of harm's way and allowed to converse as normal. This is accurate, as any memoir will show, normality is pursued at all times. But by choosing to not place Jenkins in the war directly, Powell discounts an opportunity to explore war through the eyes of a man, as readers, we have come to know rather well. This might change in the future books, but as it stands, I was somewhat disappointed the style wasn't challenged as I had hoped.

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE VALLEY OF BONES, the seventh volume of Anthony Powell's sequence "A Dance to the Music of Time" sees World War II well under way. In early 1940 Nicholas Jenkins is assigned as a subaltern in a Welsh infantry unit, which is soon posted to Northern Ireland. The Dance perennially exhibits to the reader comical and grotesque personalities, and anyone who has ever done military service knows that nowhere else do you meet such a variety of odd people in such a short time.

Thus we meet Gwatkin, a banker who sees being called up as a path to glory; Bithel the officer and Sayce the private who someone persist in the army in spite of poor turnout and criminal incompetency; Gittins who mans the company store as if it were the world's most valuable treasure, and many more. Indeed, so absorbing are these new figures that the usual cast of characters sit out most of the novel, visited only in one portion where Jenkins is on leave. Widmerpool appears at the close of the novel, again performing his role as the antagonist of the series.

In spite of some tragedies -- many characters we have followed to date are to perish in the War -- this is one of the most uproariously funny volumes so far. The mysterious commander of their division is ultimately revealed to be a eccentric old man obsessed with eating a proper breakfast. Incidental matters of military routine descend into farce. And then there is an apocryphal quotation from Lord Byron that, like the earlier parody of Pepys, shows Powell's keen familiarity with the English canon.

THE VALLEY OF BONES maintains the high standard of Powell's 12-volume work and I look forward to moving onto the next.

[gwayle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This installment widens the series' social lens: Nick is in the army now, and those that come under Powell's probing gaze are no longer part of the upper class or intellectuals or those Nick has known since childhood--in fact, only a few regular characters appear briefly in this novel. Powell's insights on human nature remain compelling, and we get more of Nick's feelings of boredom and depression (he's not--yet?--in active combat) as the machine grinds him down and he fulfills his unglamorous, frustrating, and tedious duties. (How does Powell achieve such a wonderful read in spite of this drudgery?!) Throughout, Powell explores the types of personalities attracted to the military for one reason or another (romance, patriotism, sense of order, sense of duty, ambition). Though Nick is surrounded by strangers, many of the soldiers in his company know each other, and their ranks don't necessarily line up with the pecking orders long established in their civilian lives, and this paves the way for some tense and revealing scenes. The military seems to favor and reward a certain type of zeal that Nick, of course, lacks, and in his mid-thirties, Nick is seen as past his prime and therefore expendable in the armed forces' cult of youth. I'm surprised at how fascinating I found the military stuff; thus far, everything that Powell touches turns to gold. Onward!

[Arukiyomi · Rating 4 out of 5]

For me, the beginning of three books that make up the war trilogy section of A Dance to a Music of Time was an entertaining read with more of a tendency to farce than any of the previous novels so far. I wondered if this was the result of Powell’s own experience in the war.

Those of you hoping for any action sequences will be disappointed. Nick Jenkins sees no combat service and is, instead, involved in a series of bureaucratic posts that seem, to me at least, interminably dull occupations.

There’s the occasional military exercise to spice things up a bit but, for the most part, this novel in the sequence is most memorably characterised by comic events involving various army personnel. When I say ‘comic’ here, please bear in mind that they might raise a faint smile rather than see you split your sides laughing. Like the narrator he has created, Powell seems far too straight laced to actually be able to make anyone laugh out loud.

The characters plod on. Widmerpool surfaces again (as I believe he does in all 12 novels at some point), this time in the role of a rising star of wartime administration. But several more are introduced often with most ludicrous names. What parents would ever call their son Odo for goodness sake?

[David]

Few literary shifts are as radical as that from Nick Jenkins' formative years, c. 1921-39, to Nick in World War II. After six volumes populated largely (though by no means exclusively) by artists, composers, reasonably well-off, well-educated people of the upper-middle class and even into the peerage, this seventh volume of A Dance to the Music of Time puts Nick (and his readers) smack in the middle of the Welsh Regiment, stationed for the greater part of the novel in Northern Ireland, during the year of the "Phony War." Even the time spent with family is in the country, near Thrubworth. It’s a very good portrait of how thoroughly World War Two uprooted people. The reader is cast into the same unfamiliar turbulence as the characters are. A plethora of new characters arrives (together with allusions to old favourites, and, ultimately, the threatening return of one of the pillars of the series) and Nick enters parenthood as well as soldiering in a series of sequences that, as usual, mix the tragic with the ridiculous. I enjoy the many ways in which Gwatkin changes from read to read. I have a lot more patience for him as I get older. The atmosphere in this novel is much different from most of the rest of Dance. My 72nd reading.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Third time through, this time on audio. I had forgotten (or never realized -- not sure which) how funny this volume is. As others have pointed out, the vast array of characters developed in the first six novels are not all that prominent. In a way, I think this novel is the pivot point away from the more insular world of the interwar England and the pointer to the larger world of the war and postwar world to come. It's also a way to show the tedium of military life away from the front and the shock of being thrown in with large numbers of people not of one's "natural" milieu. And, Powell is able to draw a lot of humor (or humour) from the many minor inconveniences and nuisances of army life as well as from the very different types that Nick encounters. But, never at their expense or, at least, no more so than from his usual circles.

[Francis Pellow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book in the series.
It was interesting to have Nick spend almost the whole book among new faces. These new character were just as flawed and entertaining as many of the old one however so no rest for him on that front.
I don't know why i thought that the army would remove the quirks of an individual but these 'qualities' find a way to shine through eg.alcoholic or petty thief.
There were a number of wonderful setpieces:
-Bithel's drunken dance and his later disgrace.
-Gwatkin textbook army-ing lead to multiple mishaps.
that are among the most memorable in the series so far.
Also I really enjoyed how the ending flipped so suddenly from relief to trepidation.

[Steven · Rating 2 out of 5]

And the gossip and ennui moves to the war...