A Buyer's Market

infobox Book |
name = A Buyer's Market
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = First US edition
author = Anthony Powell
cover_artist =
country = United Kingdom
language = English
series = A Dance to the Music of Time
genre = Satirical, Philosophical novel
publisher = Heinemann
release_date = 1952
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages =
isbn = NA
preceded_by = A Question of Upbringing
followed_by = The Acceptance World

"A Buyer's Market" is the second novel in Anthony Powell's twelve-novel series, "A Dance to the Music of Time". Published in 1952, it continues the story of narrator Nick Jenkins with his introduction into society after boarding school and university.

The book presents new characters, notably the painter Mr. Deacon and his dubious female acquaintance Gypsy Jones, as well as reappearances by Jenkins' school friends Templer, Stringham and Widmerpool. The action takes place in London high society in the late 1920s, focusing on a handful of close-knit incidents which illustrate the flowing and weaving nature of the passage of time.

Plot summary

The first part is taken up with various debutante balls in the early summer of 1928/9, notably at the Huntercombes', where Barbara Goring (a flame of Nick's) pours sugar over Widmerpool. Leaving the ball, Widmerpool and Jenkins bump into Mr Deacon and Gypsy. Stopping together at a tea stall they encounter Stringham, who takes Nick, Deacon and Gypsy to a party at Mrs Andriadis's.

During that summer Jenkins spends weekends in the country and lunches at Stourwater, home of magnate Sir Magnus Donners, where he again meets Jean Templer, now married to Bob Duport. Widmerpool, who now works for Donners, appears during a tour of the Stourwater dungeons and later manages to wreck one of his master's ornamental urns with his car.

That autumn Stringham is married to Lady Peggy Stepney; Mr Deacon dies after his birthday party; Jenkins sleeps with Gypsy after Deacon's funeral.
* [http://www.anthonypowell.org.uk/dance/dancesum.htm Adapted in part from material published by the Anthony Powell Society with consent]