Having read 'Present Indicative' with some pleasure (especially as it was a contemporary, paper-rationing edition I'd found in a secondhand shop) I was forewarned that 'Future, Indefinite' was very different. Coward is grumpier and much more serious, at times a little pompous in this volume, which covers his experiences of the war years (in 'Present indicative', he sends himself up enough that his attitudes are never irritating). It's worth reading, because he's incapable of writing badly and his experiences are unique, but I wouldn't say it was a joy to read. This edition also includes the early chapters of his 'Past conditional', written but unfinished from the mid-1960s and, interestingly, very much in the style of 'Present Indicative'. ( )

Noel Coward's autobiography provides an interesting glimpse into the Master's life as an entertainer, singer, actor and writer. Moreover he knew simply everybody who was anybody at the time and thereby has a vast fund of material from which to draw. Coward was such a gentleman, so bred to the class-bound ways, that he would never have considered a tell-all document that would reveal the truly interesting events he observed or participated in. While one admires his loyalty, decorum and discretion, as a reader one wishes he might have been more forthcoming. Nevertheless it is a must read for anyone interested in early to mid twentieth-century British entertainment or classes. ( )