In the mould of novels of E.M.Forster, and filled with crackling dialogue, broad comedy and an exceedingly warm heart, ON BEAUTY takes us from East Coast USA to London, from the trauma of adolescence to mid-life crisis, and from the irritations of family life to the power of beauty. Howard Belsey, a Rembrandt scholar who doesn't like Rembrandt, is an Englishman abroad and a long-suffering Professor at Wellington, a New England Liberal Arts college. He has been married for thirty years to Kiki, an American woman who no longer resembles the sexy activist she once was.Their three children passionately pursue their own paths; Levi quests after authentic blackness, Zora believes that intellectuals can redeem everybody, and Jerome struggles to be a believer in a family of strict atheists. Faced with the oppressive enthusiasms of his children, Howard feels that the first two acts of his life are over and he has no clear plans for the finale. Or the encore.