The name of Greene : a novel

Jocelyn Brooke

A tale of two English brothers, Geoffrey and Nigel. Aggressively robust, self-confident and arrogant, Geoffrey exhibits his prowess at games, at killing Germans with gisto during World War I and- later, in victimizing his insipid wife. Nigel is notably ineffective, adolescently rebellious and dabbies in everything from painting to composing. Nigel's feelings for his older brother are blended of intense hatred and an equally intense idolization and hero-worship. Geoffrey constantly plays the heavy-handed older brother (he is especially concerned about his brother's sexuality, as are several of Nigel's Friends) until, ultimately, he is convicted of fraud, a blow from which his family never recovers.