Heirs Apparent is typical of Gibb's fiction in that it explores a problem taken from the headlines-in this case, Youth-and begins with scenes designed to worry the typical serious and concerned liberal reader. Young men at Oxford are wasting their time in drunken parties and stunts. Julian, the hero, is on his final warning, and decides to leave the University before being sent down. His (platonic) girl friend Audrey actually is sent down, for coming back to college late (and destroying a fellow-student's property when clambering in at a window). Breezily, Julian decides that he has had enough of education, and wants to dedicate himself to Literature (so he begins to write a verse drama). Gradually the events of the novel teach him that life is serious and earnest, and that enterprises begun in fun can end in pain. -George Simmer's Blog