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First impression of the true first edition of Graham Swift's scarce second novel, published a year after his first novel "The Sweet-Shop Owner", which was also published by Allen Lane. ***Near fine in dark green cloth-covered boards with silver titles to the spine. The boards are clean and unmarked. Head and tail of spine very lightly creased, and two very small light creases to the bottom edge of the front board. Page block edges clean. No reading lean to the binding. Spine tight. Internally also near fine, with no inscriptions. No tears, and no serious creases, but please note that due to the cheap production quality of this book, there are some short unobtrusive production creases to pages 49-57 and 81-89. Pages bright white. No foxing. ***In a near fine colour printed dustwrapper, which has not been price-clipped, retaining the original publisher's printed price of £8.95 net. The dustwrapper is complete, with no chips or tears - just very slight rubbing at the edges. No fading, even to the spine. Dustwrapper bright and crisp. ***220 pages. 224mm x 142mm. ***'Graham Colin Swift FRSL (born 4 May 1949) is an English writer. Born in London, England, he was educated at Dulwich College, London, Queens' College, Cambridge, and later the University of York. Some of Swift's books have been filmed, including "Waterland" (1992), "Shuttlecock" (1993), "Last Orders" (1996) and "Mothering Sunday" (2021). His novel "Last Orders" was joint-winner of the 1996 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction and a controversial winner of the 1996 Booker Prize, owing to the many similarities in plot and structure to William Faulkner's "As I Lay Dying". ***'"Shuttlecock", described as a psychological thriller, was Graham Swift's second novel, published in 1981 by Allen Lane. It won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize in 1983 and was released as a film in 1993. The novel was greeted with highly favourable reviews on its appearance, selections from which were quoted on the covers of later editions. In commenting on this in an early survey of Swift's fiction, Del Ivan Janik observed the narrator?s strategy for dealing with the past - an abiding theme in his work - that it consists in this case of a humanising acceptance of uncertainty. The layered narratives of the novel, he continues, make of it a "work of art in which all aspects of the craft of fiction combine to create a satisfying whole". Appreciation of his writing does not come easily, however, because of the author's "penchant for the parochial, the drab and the unremarkable"' (Wiki) ***'Under the city streets Prentis works as a senior clerk in a police department where are stored the archives of 'dead crimes' - undisclosed complicities and uninvestigated evils. His investigations are supervised by the enigmatic Mr Quinn who, for reasons of security, distrust - and spite? is never quite clear of the purpose of this task. ***Events take a sinister turn when Quinn directs his inquiries towards Prentis's own affairs. Through the complex character of Prentis, Graham Swift builds up an intense psychological thriller - an unnerving study of power and inadequacy and the manipulative aspects of family and work life.' (Quote taken from the front flap of the dustwrapper) ***The first impression of the true first edition of Graham Swift's scarce second novel, in a near fine original dustwrapper, especially hard to find in such nice, bright, collectable condition. Many copies were lost to lending libraries. ***For all our books, postage is charged at cost, allowing for packaging: any shipping rates indicated on ABE are an average only: we will reduce the P & P charge where appropriate - please contact us for postal rates for heavier books and sets etc.
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