The Fabian Waltz: a novel based on the life of George Bernard Shaw

The Fabian Waltz is a witty romance set against the backdrop of late Victorian London, where poverty is all but ignored. Playwright George Bernard Shaw’s life and work are upended by a challenging woman he cannot win. Shaw and his fellow Fabians fight for social justice and discover love along the way. George Bernard Shaw, the Don Juan of London’s progressive Fabian Society, finds himself attracted to an Irish millionairess: Charlotte Payne-Townshend. Shaw’s best friend and fellow Fabian is Sidney Webb, a romantic Cockney intellectual. Webb pursues a beautiful social reformer named Beatrice Potter. Potter put aside the comforts of her upper-class life to go undercover in the city’s sweatshops to expose the meager wages and horrid working conditions of the urban poor. During the summer, the two couples share a country cottage. Oscar Wilde joins them to avoid the temptations of London and his lover, Lord Alfred Bosie Douglas. The Fabian work ethic, vegetarianism and social activism clash with Wilde’s self-indulgence. He offers sage advice and amusing commentary as the romances bloom, then fade. Returning to London, the friends make life-altering decisions, including one that leads to a tragic destiny.