Evelyn Waugh's <i>A Handful of Dust</i> is a satirical depiction of the 'sterile' generation between the wars. It tells the story of bored Lady Brenda Last, who abandons her husband's Gothic pile to conduct an affair with shallow socialite John Beaver of the Belgravia set. <i>A Handful of Dust</i> remains one of the finest tragedies and comedies of ill manners.