Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh

Author: Evelyn Waugh

Published: 1945
Novel.

In 1923. Charles Ryder, and undergraduate studying history at college, is befriended by Lord Sebastian Flyte, the younger son of Lord Marchamain and an undergraduate at Christ Church. Sebastian introduces Charles to his eccentric and aesthetic friends. Sebastian also takes him to his family's palatial mansion, Brideshead Castle, in Wiltshire, where Charles later meets the rest of Sebastian's family, including his sister, Julia. 

During the summer holiday, Charles returns home to London, where he lives with his widowed father, Edward Ryder. 

Charles is called back to Brideshead after Sebastian incurs a minor injury, and Sebastian and Charles spend the remainder of the holiday together. 

Sebastian, a troubled young man, descends into alcoholism, drifting away from the family over a two-year period. He flees to Morocco, where his drinking ruins his health. He eventually finds some solace as an under-porter and object of a charity at a Catholic monastery in Tunisia. 

Characters:
Charles Ryder
Edward Ryder
Lord Marchmain
Sebastian Flyte
Anthony Blance.