"Digby Walton was once the heir to an English pottery company. Now in old age he contemplates the history of that company as he reflects upon the modern world. He stares with a tragic eye at the society that surrounds him. His own heir is Theo, who wishes to ignore history and simply play trumpet in his jazz band Zeno. Theo wants to live entirely inside the perfection of songs, but the question is, will reality let him?" "Meanwhile Digby's next-door neighbour, Daisy Gresham, famed as one of the great film beauties of her day, seeks her own elusive son, perilously engaged in the international anarchist movement."--Jacket.