The world of Sir Lewis Eliot draws to a close in Last Things, the eleventh and final novel in C. P. Snow’s decade-spanning Strangers and Brothers sequence. After his heart stops briefly on the operating table, Sir Lewis is compelled to reflect on his life, to pass judgement on his hopes and achievements, and to prepare his brilliant and beloved son, Charles, for the future. Thoughtful and elegiac, but ultimately suffused with optimism, Last Things is a fitting conclusion to a cycle of novels distinguished by their humane reflection and willingness to portray the lives of men – great and small – with unfailing insight and compassion. A meticulous study of the public issues and private problems of post-war Britain, C. P. Snow’s Strangers and Brothers sequence is a towering achievement that stands alongside Anthony Powell’s A Dance to the Music of Time as one of the great romans-fleuves of the twentieth century.