Give Me the Daggers by Catherine Gavin

Give Me the Daggers by Catherine Gavin lands on the shelves of my shop.

Hodder & Stoughton, 1972, Hardback in dust wrapper.

Signed by the author on the title page unverified and reflected as such in the lack of premium. Illustrated by way of: Maps to the endpapers and blanks;

From the cover: Catherine Gavin has already made an international reputation for herself as the chronicler of nineteenth century Europe. Her last two books carried forward her great saga to the Great War, to the triumphs and calamities of the war at sea and, in the Great Wars aftermath, to the Turkish campaigns of Kemal Ataturk. Her crowning achievement is her new novel, Give Me The Daggers, whose powerful theme derives from the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the lightning spread of Communism through Finland to the western world. While great historical movements and historical events form a strong background to this magnificent narrative, the foreground is occupied by a titanic individual struggle: between Tom Fleming, wounded, decorated and invalided out of the Canadian army (a man scarred by war but unafraid) and Boris Heiden, a complex and courageous man driven by inward forces into a campaign of destruction which is both ideological and entirely personal. For Heiden becomes a Communist because he is a misfit in the Imperial Russian society into which his father was born. A man in advance of his time, he sees how the Revolution can succeed through the middle classes as well as the proletariat, and he skillfully uses such weapons as drugs, student unrest, and control of mass communications in his campaign for an idea and against a man Tom Fleming.

If these men are the protagonists in the human struggle of wills implied in Lady Macbeths desperate command Infirm of purpose give me the daggers, Nancy Macpherson, a tough and lively girl, is a heroine who knows what she wants and is prepared to wait for it, unlike the beautiful Sandels sisters to whom Tom Fleming is attracted and who so nearly cause his downfall. Other outstanding characters both fictional, and factual like General Gustaf Mannerheim play decisive parts in what will surely be recognised as a magnificent novel of action and of ideas.

Good+ in Good+ Dust Wrapper. A little rubbing to the edges of the dust wrapper with a short closed tear to the head of the upper panel, nicks to the head of the spine. Leans. Text complete, clean and tight.

Blue boards with Gilt titling to the Spine. 336 pages. Index. 8¾” x 5¾”.

Of course, if you don’t like this one there are plenty more available here!

give me the daggers catherine gavin hodder stoughton 0340156392

give me the daggers catherine gavin hodder stoughton 0340156392 b