An Avenue of Stone is part of a trilogy (including also Too Dear for My Possessing and A Summer to Decide) which describes the life of Claud Pickering; but each novel is complete in itself and can be read independently. In this, the central figure is Claud’s stepmother, Lady Helena Archer, at one time an actress, who is now growing old but still has enough vitality and character to hold off the realization of old age. The story of her relationships, emotional and often stormy, with her family and her friends during the later years of World War II and the beginnings of peace, is a remarkable study of an ageing woman, and a shrewd appraisal of the people she meets – in different ways so typical of their time.