The Living and the Dead is a novel by Australian Nobel Prize laureate Patrick White, his second published book. It was written in the early stages of World War II whilst the author alternated between the United Kingdom and the United States. The Living and the Dead is predominantly set in 1930s London and portrays the complex ebb and flow of relationships within the Standish family. Mrs Standish, ageing but still beautiful, is drawn into secret liaisons, while her daughter Eden experiments openly and impulsively with left-wing politics and love affairs. Only the son, Elyot, remains an aloof and scholarly observer - until dramatic events shock him into sudden self-knowledge.