South by Java Head

MacLean, Alistair

ISBN 10: 0006172482 / ISBN 13: 9780006172482

Published by Collins, 1958

About this Item

The 50th anniversary edition of this classic World War 2 adventure set in south-east Asia. Num Pages: 448 pages. BIC Classification: FF; FH; FJ. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 113 x 177 x 28. Weight in Grams: 262. Fine in dust wrapper. DW aged and torn to spine, partial missing to top and bottom edges. Internally light toned with age, light spotting ffeps and page edges, text is clear and remains a fine copy. 1958. First edition. Hardcover. First edition copy. . . .

Seller Inventory # KSG0024685

Bibliographic Details

• Title: South by Java Head
• Publisher: Collins
• Publication Date: 1958
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0006172482
• ISBN 13: 9780006172482
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included

About this title

Synopsis

The 50th anniversary edition of this classic World War 2 adventure set in south-east Asia.

February, 1942: Singapore lies burning and shattered, defenceless before the conquering hordes of the Japanese Army, as the last boat slips out of the harbour into the South China Sea. On board are a desperate group of people, each with a secret to guard, each willing to kill to keep that secret safe.

Who or what is the dissolute Englishman, Farnholme? The elegant Dutch planter, Van Effen? The strangely beautiful Eurasian girl, Gudrun? The slave trader, Siran? The smiling and silent Nicholson who is never without his gun? Only one thing is certain: the rotting tramp steamer is a floating death trap, carrying a cargo of human TNT.

Dawn sees them far out to sea but with the first murderous dive bombers already aimed at their ship. Thus begins an ordeal few are to survive, a nightmare succession of disasters wrought by the hell-bent Japanese, the unrelenting tropical sun and by the survivors themselves, whose hatred and bitterness divides them one against the other.

Written after the acclaimed and phenomenally successful HMS Ulysses and The Guns of Navarone, this was MacLean’s third book, and it contains all the hallmarks of those other two classics. Rich with stunning visual imagery, muscular narrative power, brutality, courage and breathtaking excitement, the celebration of the 50th anniversary of South by Java Head offers readers a long-denied chance to enjoy one of the greatest war novels ever written.

About the Author

Alistair MacLean, the son of a Scots minister, was brought up in the Scottish Highlands. In 1941 he joined the Royal Navy. After the war he read English at Glasgow University and became a schoolmaster. The two and a half years he spent aboard a wartime cruiser were to give him the background for HMS Ulysses, his remarkably successful first novel, published in 1955. He is now recognized as one of the outstanding popular writers of the 20th century, the author of 29 worldwide bestsellers, many of which have been filmed.