It is the fiesta Day of Death in Mexico and Geoffrey Firmin—ex-consul, ex-husband, an alcoholic, and a ruined man—is living out the last day of his life.

Drowning himself in mescal while his former wife and half-brother look on, powerless to help him, the consul has become an enduring tragic figure. His story, the image of one man’s agonized journey towards Calvary, became a prophetic book for a whole generation.