The opening of To the North is deceptive: leaving Italy is not, in itself, to be of importance. Cecilia Summers, the 'young widow' waiting for the train, is not to be the heroine. Its tone is significantly odd and ambiguous. The satirical treatment of a carefully demarcated social world is apparently anticipated, and this is borne out by the ensuing emphasis on manner and properties…. Affluent people lunch, dine, and go to parties; we are often told what they are wearing. The fashions are exactly registered…. (pp. 129-30)

Nevertheless, there is a discomforting tone to the first paragraph of the novel, strongly suggesting that the material world in which it has its being is to be undermined. The knowing information about the Anglo-Italian express sounds a little ominous. The season, like the travellers, is 'uncertain'. Suspended between anticipation and loss, they lunch 'uneasily', awaiting their journey to the...