Morality Play.

Hardcover, Publisher : Hamish Hamlon, (1995). FIRST EDITION, (Fine / Fine), Original Publishers Black Cloth Boards, Gilt Titles To Spine, 8.3/4" X 5.3/4", 188pp, (No Inscriptions), A Clean, TightBook, With Printers String 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2. (ISBN 0 241 13341 6). The Dust Jacket Is Clean & Bright, And Priced, (thus not clipped). Jacket States "BOOKER PRIZE WINNER 1992". [Front (inside) Flap] It is late in the fourteenth century, a time of calamity such as few others have been, marked by war, plague and fear of hell-fire. Nicholas Barber, a footloose young cleric, has left his diocese without the Bishop's leave. He has sung in taverns, he has gambled away his holy relics, he has committed adultery. Now, to compound his sins, he has joined a troupe of travelling players, a thing expressly forbidden to members of the clergy. Trouble enough, but nothing compared to what happens when the company decides to enact the murder of the young boy called Thomas Wells. His body was foud by the roadside; a young woman is awaiting excecution. For the people of the town it is a matter of absorbing interest and the throg to see the play. For the players it is a great chance to make money. But the more they try to act out the last moments of Thomas Wells, the more they become aware of discreancies, things just don't add up, in the official version of events. Led on by the lure of money, trapped in their roles, they find themselves in a situation of appallng danger. As they play under the gallows the identity of the real murderer becomes horriblly clear. Morality Play is Barry Unsworth's first novel since winning the Booker Prize. It is a dark and powerful fable about the masks we wear, the roles we play and the corrupted nature of justice.…