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

The Captain by Jan De Hartog

The Captain by Jan De Hartog lands on the shelves of my shop.

Atheneum, 1966, Hardback in dust wrapper.

Illustrated by way of: Maps to the endpapers and blanks;

From the cover: This is a novel of the sea and it is on a grand scale. Its setting is, chiefly, the Murmansk run during the Second World War, surely one of the crudest tests to which men and ships have ever been put, and on one of the crudest of seas.

Its major theme is the making of a captain, that process by which in war as in peace a man is measured by the sea, by ships, by his fellows and by himself until it is shown that he has what it takes to stand responsible, after God, for the little world of a ship and the souls it contains.

Alongside this theme are others, similarly compelling: the search of a young man for a way to express his love in a world gone mad; the effort of a woman to raise a child in a way that will enable him to find his own truth; the struggle of men to preserve themselves and yet achieve brotherhood. Above all, there is the grip of this epic drama, told by a master of story who is also a seeker after truth and an explorer of the soul.

There have been many stories of the sea and of war and of the making of a captain, but few indeed with the sweep, the power, the majesty and the illumination of this one.

Good+ in Good Dust Wrapper. Unlaminated dust wrapper a little edgeworn and faded with a stain to the reverse, heavily at the spine. Gently bruised at the head, tail and corners of the binding. Pages very gently age-tanned. Hinge starting at the last blank.

Blue boards with Silver titling to the Spine. 434 pages. 8½” x 5½”.

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

The Heart of India by Mark Tully

The Heart of India by Mark Tully lands on the shelves of my shop.

Viking, 1995, Hardback in dust wrapper.

Contains a glossary of terms.

From the cover: Born in Calcutta, educated in England, for more than twenty years Mark Tully was the BBC Chief of Bureau in Delhi and his name and his voice became synonymous with the country he had made his home. For years he sent back dispatches interpreting that sub-continent to the outside world, but the truth of India is remarkably resistant to reportage.

Imbued with his love for India and informed by his vast experience of India, Mark Tully has -woven together a series of stories of extraordinary depth and eloquence. All the stories are set in Uttar Pradesh and tell of very different lives. Of a barren wife who visits a holy man and subsequently conceives but is it a miracle or something more worldly? Of a sons carefully laid plot to take revenge against his fathers murderer, -with a surprising twist when his case comes to court. Of a daughter, persuaded by her friends to spurn an arranged marriage, whose romance ends in blackmail. Of a mans inability to overcome the conventions of caste and go into business, which leads to his wife breaking purdah and taking control of the family.

In these and in other stones Mark Tully delicately probes the nuances of life in India, taking us to its very heart.

Good+ in Good+ Dust Wrapper. A little faded at the spine of the dust wrapper. Gently bruised at the head of the spine and the top corners of the boards with commensurate wear to the dust wrapper. Leans slightly. Edges of the text block lightly spotted. Text complete, clean and tight.

Blue boards with Gilt titling to the Spine. [XII] 241 pages. 9½” x 6¼”.

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

Victory by Susan Cooper

Victory by Susan Cooper lands on the shelves of my shop.

The Bodley Head, 2006, Hardback in dust wrapper.

From the cover: Two children cross an ocean, two hundred years apart. One is Sam Robbins, a powder monkey aboard H. M. S. Victory, the ship in which Lord Nelson will die a heros death at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. The other is Molly Jennings, a present-day English girl transplanted from London to America, fighting a battle of her own against loss and loneliness.

This extraordinary time-shifting adventure tells the interwoven stories of Sam and Molly, linked by a mystery. Sam is a farm boy, kidnapped by the press gang to serve in the Royal Navy. At first terrified and seasick, he is transformed gradually into a sailor. In the rowdy, dangerous world of a warship enduring the Napoleonic Wars, he meets both cruelty and kindness, and survives a fearsome battle whose echoes reach through the years to involve Molly as well. Like him, she has lost her childhood but will find her future, with help from a much unexpected source.

Separate yet together, Sam and Molly struggle through fear and excitement to a final ordeal which terrifyingly tests their courage. And the moving climax of the book shows two lives joined forever by the touch of Nelson, one of the greatest sailors of all time.

Very Good in Very Good Dust Wrapper. A little rubbing to the edges of the dust wrapper. Leans very slightly. Text complete, clean and tight.

Blue boards with Yellow titling to the Spine. 262 pages. 7¼” x 5″.

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

Far Cry by John Harvey

Far Cry by John Harvey lands on the shelves of my shop.

William Heinemann, 2009, Hardback in dust wrapper.

From the cover: EVERY PARENTS WORST FEAR

Ruth and Simon Pierces rare romantic break is shattered by devastating news: their daughter, Heather, on holiday in Cornwall with her best friends family, has disappeared

The loss is more than they or their marriage can bear. But time does heal and slowly Ruth builds a new life for herself. A new husband, Andrew even a second daughter, Beatrice.

The chances that history could repeat itself are next-to-impossible that is until, years later, a desperate phone call launches Dl Will Grayson and his partner, DS Helen Walker, into an investigation which will test their professional and emotional resources to the very limit.

Yet as Grayson becomes increasingly obsessed with a recently released child-abuser and Helen is drawn deeper into a destructive love affair with a married colleague, there is a real danger that their most demanding case yet will slip fatefully through their hands

Very Good in Very Good Dust Wrapper. Gently bruised at the head of the spine and the top corners of the boards with commensurate wear to the dust wrapper. Sticker ghost to the upper panel. Text complete, clean and tight.

Black boards with Gilt titling to the Spine. 500 pages. 9½” x 6¼”.

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

Heidi by Johanna Spyri

Heidi by Johanna Spyri lands on the shelves of my shop.

Collins, 1959, Hardback in dust wrapper.

Illustrated by way of: Colour Plates; Black & White Drawings; Illustrated endpapers and blanks;

From the cover: For many, many years now, children have read Heidi and have loved this simple, sweet story of a little girl who lived high up on the Swiss Alps. She is a lively, carefree little creature, and in her innocent approach to lifes problems there is a child-like wisdom which brings true happiness, not only to herself, but also to many unhappy grown-up people around her.

Children still enjoy reading about the Aim-Uncle, Peter the goat-herd, the old, blind grandmother, Clara and the people from Frankfurt, just as generations of children before them have done. It all seems so real and true! because Johanna Spyri was writing about a life she knew and loved.

She was born at Hirzel, near Zurich, in a wonderfully beautiful district Lake Zurich and dark fir forests on one side, on the other, the shimmering Bernese Oberland. Just as Heidi did, little Johanna loved the beautiful scenery amidst which she grew up, and she, too, would often stop to listen to the roaring of the wind in the fir trees.

She wrote Heidi in 1880, at a time when Switzerland, always the country of refuge, was succouring the wounded and homeless from the Franco-Prussian War. Money was needed urgently, so Johanna Spyri published Heidi. It was an immediate success, and is still one of the worlds most popular childrens stories.

Introduction by: Margaret Tempest

Good in Good Dust Wrapper. Unlaminated dust wrapper a little edgeworn and faded with a little loss at the spine ends and corners. Edges of the textblock heavily tanned, more heavily to the top edge. Tanning to the blanks. Text complete, clean and tight but a little age-tanned.

Pale Green boards with Dark Green titling to the Spine & Upper Board. 256 pages. 8½” x 5¼”.

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