The Sacred & Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder is a novel by the English writer Evelyn Waugh, first published in 1945. It follows, from the 1920s to the early 1940s, the life and romances of Charles Ryder, especially his friendship with the Flytes, a family of wealthy English Catholics who live in a palatial mansion, Brideshead Castle. Ryder has relationships with two of the Flytes: Sebastian and Julia. The novel explores themes including Catholicism and nostalgia for the age of English aristocracy. A well-received television adaptation of the novel was produced in an 11-part miniseries by Granada Television in 1981.

Excellent prose, but slow moving, multi-decade story. I just don't like that kind of literature. Reader was great. I listened to the end, but was not much impressed by it. ( )

I had seen enough of the famous television adaptation, and thought it was alright. A story of rich people. But as a written novel? Well... Evelyn Waugh is a pretty extraordinary prose stylist and overall writer. On that level, this is a great novel. So, for me the reading (listening) experience was far richer than any dramatic adaptation could hope to equal. The book covers an enormous amount of ground. It feels very influential to many other writers of the era. Very, very impressive. Personal points off for me, being less obsessed with Catholic guilt than the author is. Either you suffer from it, or you don't. ( )

Interesting read. Not sure what I was expecting but it was good none the less. ( )

One of those books that have been lying around for ages (and where you have a vague recollection of an unwatched mini-series from 30 years ago.....).

First published in 1945, this book is split into 3 sections - the first being Charles Ryder, in the army, returning to Brideshead to use it as local army headquarters. He first visited Brideshead when he was at Oxford and met up with the younger Flyte son Sebastian. This takes us into a reminiscence of Charles's interaction with the Flyte family. Sebastian comes first, and he and Charles have some form of love affair. There is some debate as to whether it was just a romantic love affair (as some young men are wont to do - think it would be called a "bromance" nowadays) or something more sexual (unlikely to be more explicit considering time it was written). Julia is Sebastian's younger sister, an unavailable female version of Sebastian as well as their rather strongly Catholic mother. Their father lives in Italy with his mistress, unable to get a divorce because his wife wont grant it.

Sebastian only really appears in the first third of the book, and the relationship between Charles and the Flyte family falls apart through Sebastian's excessive drinking. Sebastian disappears onto the continent somewhere and is barely heard of again until the end, and only then by third hand.

The second section of the book details Charles's relationship with Julia, where the two meet again several years later and end up living together for several years - both having married and on track to get divorces as a result. They plan to get married once both divorces come through, but over the subsequent years whilst waiting on the divorces, several large events come about. Julia's brother Brideshead, decides to get married to a hideous widow with 2 children, and now that Julia's mother has died, Julia's father decides to return to Brideshead in order to die.

The last, short section of the book returns Charles to Brideshead as part of the army who have taken residence in the empty home.

There are large swathes of narrative, with page long paragraphs, especially at the beginning, which would have turned me off the book had it gone on for much longer. There is also some conflict between the very Catholic Flyte family and the rather atheist Charles, which brings conflict throughout the book.