Begun in 1920, Mr Noon is divided into two distinct parts, the first of which appeared in 1934 and the second of which remained unpublished until the Cambridge edition of 1984, the first publication of the novel in full. Abandoning a promising academic career at Cambridge, Gilbert Noon returns to Whetstone, where he becomes a teacher at the local technical school. His rootlessness leads him into an inept experiment of 'spoony' love with a fellow schoolteacher, Emmie Bostock. The ensuing scandal causes him to flee to Germany, where he finds true passion in his developing relationship with Johanna, the unhappily married wife of an English doctor.

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