<p>Aldous Huxley spares no one in his ironic, piercing portrayal of agroup gathered in an Italian palace by the socially ambitious andself-professed lover of art, Mrs. Aldwinkle. Here, Mrs. Aldwinkleyearns to recapture the glories of the Italian Renaissance, but herguests ultimately fail to fulfill her naïve expectations.</p><p>Among her entourage are: a suffering poet and reluctant editor of the <em>Rabbit Fanciers' Gazette</em>who silently bears the widowed Mrs. Aldwinkle's desperate advances; apopular novelist who records every detail of her affair with anotherguest, the amorous Calamy, for future literary endeavors; and an agingsensualist philosopher who pursues a wealthy yet mentally-disabledheiress.</p><p>Stripping the houseguests of their pretensions, Huxley reveals the superficiality of the cultural elite. Deliciously satirical, <em>Those Barren Leaves</em> bites the hands of those who dare to posture or feign sophistication and is as comically fresh today as when first published.</p>