At seventy-one Judah Waten is not just another old soldier who refuses to fade away. Nor is he a man who keeps writing books out of habit. He is a born storyteller who writes when he has something to tell us. And the more he writes, the more powerful and persuasive his fictions become.

Scenes of Revolutionary Life is a brilliant achievement; the work of a man at the peak of his power. Subtle, richly panoramic, and at the same time a splendid character study, this book tells the story of Torn Graves from youth to retirement age, his dedication to the Communist movement and his yearning to be a great writer, his love affair with Maggie Carlton, a brilliant student at Melbourne and later an Oxford don, and his unconsummated passion for Nadine Rose, Secretary for the Bloomsbury Branch of the Communist Party.