Lowry's blistering masterpiece is a kind of dramatic poem that explores the nasty side of life: alcoholism, violence and broken dreams are its subject matter. Geoffrey Firmin spends the Mexican Day of the Dead- his last- hallucinating, soliloquising and wondering how things might have turned out differently with his beautiful estranged wife Yvonne, who has returned to the town in a doomed attempt to help him. Told in a beautiful, strenuous and delirious prose, it is also full of humour and gentleness; Lowry's brilliant delineation of his characters and their histories occasions some of the most compelling writing. It's a one-off, virtuoso novel that is worth spending time on to appreciate its dark and difficult beauty.