In the third and fourth decades of last century the literary works of Charles Morgan (1894-1958) achieved widespread fame and great publishing success, some being translated into seventeen languages. Three of his novels won prestigious prizes: Portrait in a Mirror (The Femina Prize 1930), The Fountain (The Hawthornden Prize 1933) and The Voyage (The James Tait Black Memorial Prize 1941). Also a successful essayist, playwright and dramatic critic, Morgan achieved the rare feat (for an English writer) of being elected a member of the Institut de France. He was also president of P.E.N. International from 1953 to 1956. After his death his reputation suffered an eclipse, but in recent years a number of publications of his works have signalled that it is recovering. This study of Morgan's eleven novels argues that his work deserves a permanent place in the canon of English literature.

Nigel Jackson, a Master of Arts in the University of Melbourne, is an Australian poet and man of letters who has devoted himself to celebrating the beauty and profundity of Morgan's writings.