In The Arms of Time, Rupert Hart-Davis told the story of his mother's short life and of his own first 19 years. The Power of Chance carries his story through his next 19 years, two marriages (one to Peggy Ashcroft) and three children, against backgrounds of the theatre, the book-trade and the army. On the way we have glimpses of Max Beerbohm, T.E. Lawrence, the army, Hilaire Belloc, Edgar Wallace and Field-Marshall Lord Wavell. Most of the text is derived from contemporary letters and diaries and it contains with anecdotes and portraits. Rupert Hart-Davis is the author of a biography of Hugh Walpole. He has also edited The Lyttelton Hart-Davis Letters, The Letters of Oscar Wilde, George Moore's Letters to Lady Cunard, A Catalogue of the Caricatures of Max Beernohm and The Autobiography of Arthur Ransome.