 However, "A Vicious Circle" is also about falling in and out of love, marriage, bringing up children, class consciousness, poverty, and the sad state of hospitals and the medical profession in Britain.The novel chronicles the life of Amelia, the only daughter of newspaper tycoon Max de Monde who, after having spoiled Amelia beyond hope while she was still young, abandons her when she becomes pregnant.Amelia decides to marry Mark Crawley, the father of her child, an ambitious young critic intent on shaking off his humble background.