A timeless story of decaying middleclass English life after wwI and the generation that tried to escape its values Christopher Isherwood was only twentyone when he began his first novel All the Conspirators in his introduction to the American edition Isherwood explains All the Conspirators records a minor engagement in what Shelley calls the great war between the old and young And what a war it was in many ways this novel like the classic Berlin Stories is a period piece growing out of a particular historical situationclashes between parents and children with all their passionate moral struggles Isherwoods vivid portrayal of an older generation trying to hold on while a younger generation tries to wrench free still resonates and disarms