The Race. 1958. First edition.

The Race By Ruth France. Publisher: Constable, London, 1958. First edition. Hardback with dust jacket. Original cloth boards show minor edge-wear, with the binding remaining tight, firm. Features a neat previous owner's name written on the front free endpaper. Internal pages are very good throughout, with light foxing confined to the endpapers, top edge stained red. The dust jacket is intact but price-clipped, showing rubbing, standard chipping, marks, and creasing. 191 pages. A highly acclaimed classic of New Zealand maritime literature and winner of the New Zealand Literary Fund's Award for Achievement. Based on the harrowing real-world events of the ill-fated 1951 Wellington to Lyttelton yacht race—in which the author's own husband participated—the novel delivers a powerful, tense, and psychological dual narrative. It masterfully contrasts the raw, exhausting battle of five men enduring a brutal storm at sea aboard the yacht Shadow with the agonizing suspense felt by the women waiting for news back on shore. An exceptional, foundational volume for collectors of early New Zealand fiction and nautical adventure. ALL PHOTOS ARE OF THE ACTUAL BOOK. All books are sent with free courier postage within New Zealand.…