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I nominate Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh.
It is World War II and Captain Charles Ryder reflects upon his time at Oxford during the '20s and a world now changed. As a lonely student, Charles was captivated by the outrageous and decadent Sebastien Flyte, and invited to spend time at the family home: Brideshead. Charles becomes infatuated with its eccentric, aristocratic occupants, especially Sebastien's remote and distant sister, Julia. However, he begins to realise his own spiritual and social distance, and in turn discovers a crueler world, where duty and desire, faith and happiness can only ever be conflicting forces.
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