to resign as an MP and causes resentment between Rachel and Nick, where Rachel blames Nick for her own lack of responsibility regarding Cat, and contends Nick never truly understood that his role was to take care of Catherine, not indulge her. Shortly after, the press (who have been camped outside the Feddens' home), publish a story on Wani and Nick, causing greater scandal. Gerald uses Nick as a scapegoat and accuses him of attaching himself to the family and then wrecking them because of his homosexuality. Nick goes to live with Wani and views the first and final issue of Ogee. He goes back to the Feddens' house to collect his things, knowing they are absent for a wedding, and runs into Penny, who reveals that she is going to continue her affair with Gerald. Nick leaves the Feddens' house for the final time, and muses on the HIV test he is having done the next day, which he imagines will be positive. Title The title of the book refers to the Line of Beauty — the double "S" of the ogee shape, a shape which "swings both ways". William Hogarth, in his 1753 book The Analysis of Beauty, describes how beauty itself is embodied in the shape, which protagonist Nick Guest uses to describe Wani's body. In contrast, other characters describe lines of cocaine as "beautiful". Major themes The book touches upon the emergence of HIV/AIDS, as well as the relationship between politics and homosexuality, and its ambivalent acceptance within the 1980s Conservative Party and mainstream society. The book also considers heterosexual hypocrisy regarding homosexual promiscuity. Finally, an underlying theme is the nature of beauty. Nick is attracted to physical beauty in art and in men. However, he pays a price for his choices: his beautiful lover Wani is a self-hating homosexual, and the Feddens' home (in which Nick Guest remains a guest) is filled with both exquisite art and vile hypocrisy. The novel also deals with the "coming out" experience of Nick and of gay men in general. The novel explores the question of whether a gay man can remain apolitical in a homophobic society. Nick's dance with Margaret Thatcher has overtones of a dance with the devil. The book refers frequently to the life and works of Henry James. Literary significance and criticism Hollinghurst wrote part of the novel at the Yaddo colony. The book won