A Handful of Dust is a novel by the British writer Evelyn Waugh (pictured). First published in 1934, it concerns the misfortunes of Tony Last, a contented but shallow English country squire who, betrayed by his wife and seeing his illusions shattered one by one, joins an expedition to the Brazilian jungle. Here he is trapped in a remote outpost, as the prisoner and plaything of an insane captor, and is forced to read the novels of Charles Dickens, aloud, in perpetuity. Waugh incorporated several autobiographical elements into the story, notably a journey into the South American interior undertaken in 1933–34, and his own recent desertion by his young wife. The book was immediately popular with the public and has never been out of print; its literary reputation has grown, and it has been listed among the 20th century's best novels. Unlike in much of his work, Waugh did not introduce overt religious themes into A Handful of Dust. He later explained that he intended the book to demonstrate the futility of humanist as distinct from religious values.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Handful_of_Dust

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1400:

Owain Glyndŵr (seal pictured) was proclaimed Prince of Wales and instigated a revolt against the rule of Henry IV of England. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glynd%C5%B5r_Rising

1776:

American Revolutionary War: On hearing the British troops sounding their bugles as if it were a fox hunt, the American colonists held their ground and achieved a victory at the Battle of Harlem Heights in present-day New York City. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Harlem_Heights

1810:

Miguel Hidalgo, the parish priest in Dolores, Guanajuato, delivered the Grito de Dolores to his congregation, instigating the Mexican War of Independence against Spain. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grito_de_Dolores

1940:

World War II: Italy captured the town of Sidi Barrani, but their invasion of Egypt progressed no further. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_invasion_of_Egypt

1990:

Construction of the Northern Xinjiang Railway was completed between Ürümqi and Alashankou, linking the railway lines of China and Kazakhstan, and adding a sizable portion to the Eurasian Land Bridge. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_Land_Bridge

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

bogatyr: (historical) A medieval Russian heroic warrior, akin to the Western European knight-errant. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bogatyr

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Faithfulness to the truth of history involves far more than a research, however patient and scrupulous, into special facts. Such facts may be detailed with the most minute exactness, and yet the narrative, taken as a whole, may be unmeaning or untrue. The narrator must seek to imbue himself with the life and spirit of the time. He must study events in their bearings near and remote; in the character, habits, and manners of those who took part in them, he must himself be, as it were, a sharer or a spectator of the action he describes.   --Francis Parkman https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Francis_Parkman