Under the Volcano

Under the Volcano (1947) is Lowry's masterpiece, set over a single day — November 2, 1938, the Day of the Dead — in the Mexican town of Quauhnahuac. Geoffrey Firmin, a former British consul and incurable alcoholic, stumbles through the day as his ex-wife Yvonne returns to rescue him and their marriage. Towering over the action is the volcano Popocatépetl, emblem of the political and personal catastrophe bearing down on them all. Ranked among the greatest novels of the twentieth century.