Half a Life (novel) Half a Life (novel) Half a Life is a 2001 novel by Nobel laureate V. S. Naipaul published by Alfred A. Knopf. The novel is set in India, Africa and Europe (London, Berlin and Portugal). "Half a Life" was long listed for the Man Booker prize (2001). Willie Somerset Chandran is the son of a Brahmin father and a Dalit mother. His father gave him his middle name as a homage to the English writer Somerset Maugham who had visited the father in the temple where the father was living under a vow of silence. Having come to despise his
A House Divided (Upstairs, Downstairs) A House Divided (Upstairs, Downstairs) "A House Divided" was the second episode of the third series of the British television series, "Upstairs, Downstairs". The episode is set in 1913. Lady Marjorie Bellamy, her brother Hugo Talbot-Carey (the Earl of Southwold), and his new wife (widow Marion Worsley) die in the sinking of the RMS "Titanic". Her lady's maid, Miss Roberts survives the sinking of the "Titanic" while travelling to America with Lady Marjorie, who perishes. Her last known words being uttered to her maid—"Keep this for me, Roberts"—as she hands over her jewellery box. After a week being listed as