The Treasures of Existence

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In the aftermath of World War One, the glitter of the Roaring Twenties is just a myth in the provinces. There, all too often, hard reality means mass unemployment, food shortages and discharged soldiers begging on street corners.But for David Lawrence, passion distracts him from his socialist concerns when he falls in love with his glacially beautiful cousin Elizabeth. The relationship seems doomed, as not only is Elizabeth an ice-cold Madonna to David's hot-blooded philanderer but her brother Edmund hates Jews, blaming them for the Depression ... and David is half-Jewish.Edmund is dangerous. Born with a cruel streak, he conceals his vices under a sophisticated veneer. A meeting with the handsome Simon Harrow introduces him to new erotic pleasures - and fascism. But it is a visit to his sister which explodes unvoiced family prejudices to the surface. Miserable with her husband's infidelities, Elizabeth confides in Edmund. As violence erupts in the Lawrence household, it foreshadows the violence which will soon sweep across Europe ...