How It All Goes Down
The Black Prince opens with forewords by the novel's purported editor, P. Loxias, and its purported author, Bradley Pearson. Through those forewords, we learn that Bradley Pearson's narrative, "The Black Prince," describes events that happened kind of a long time ago, and that Bradley and Loxias met afterwards, in the more peaceful time that followed.
Bradley's narrative gets underway on a May morning, as Bradley is trying to work up the willpower and energy to get out the door and start a trip that'll take him away to the northern seaside cottage that he's rented for the summer. Before he can make it past his own threshold, though, an unexpected visitor arrives at his door bearing bad news, and an unexpected telephone call distracts Bradley even more.
Over the sections that follow, Bradley is knocked back and forth between friends, family members, and an ex-spouse, all of whom make demands on his time and emotional resources. Bradley gets more and more anxious as he dreams about getting away to write his great book, but the mundane conflicts and melodramas of his life keep holding him back in London.
Eventually, Bradley's sense of being pulled back and forth reaches a climax when he discovers that he's fallen in love with Julian Baffin—the twenty-year-old daughter of his closest friends. In the days and weeks that follow, Bradley experiences a short but totally intense succession of emotions as he lives for a few days with his secret feelings, then confesses those feelings to Julian, then discovers—miraculously, it seems to him—that Julian loves him back.
When Julian's parents discover the relationship and massively freak out about it, Bradley and Julian flee to the northern seaside cottage that Bradley had rented for himself as a writing retreat. There, they enjoy just a few days of honeymoon-like bliss before Bradley's friends and family in London intrude once again.
Soon, Bradley's sister is dead, Julian has discovered some unsavory truths about her lover and run away into the night, and Bradley has returned to his apartment in London, where he waits dejectedly for Julian to return or send word.
As things draw to a close, Bradley becomes the accidental instrument of Julian's mother's rage when he reveals that Julian's father is in love with another woman. When Julian's father winds up dead—with his head bashed in by his wife, or so Bradley says—Bradley is accused of his murder.
Bradley's postscript to "The Black Prince" fills us in on the events that followed Arnold Baffin's death—basically, the murder trial, his eventual conviction for Arnold Baffin's murder, and his life in prison.
As Bradley tells us, his imprisonment has turned out to be the greatest opportunity of his life, since it provided the fertile ground for his relationship with his "dear friend" and editor, P. Loxias, who may or may not be the great and terrible artistic godhead that Bradley has worshipped and yearned for throughout his entire life.
Postscripts by four other characters from the novel cast various shades of doubt over Bradley's version of events, and a final postscript by P. Loxias puts the finishing touch on things by adding a few final words about Bradley's innocence and devotion to artistic beauty and truth.