English novelist, playwright and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1932, Galsworthy became known for his portrayal of the British upper middle class and for his social satire. To readers of Galsworthy there is a special significance in this novel for it marks the passing of Soames Forsyte and brings the annals of the Forsyte family to an end. The Man of Property has mellowed with the passing of the years till in his old age he is a patient and benign figure, guarding with especial tenderness the welfare of his daughter Fleur. Yet all his watchfulness and devotion are powerless to avert the tragedy of her deliberate revival of her love affair with Jon Forsyte when he returns to England with his American Wife.