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6850 PLAYFAIR, Jocelyn House in the Country, A
Softcover; Trade PB Persephone Books: London; c1944, 2005; Near Fine in Very Good+ dust wrapper
Tiny smudge on bottom page edges, unclipped dust wrapper has faint edgewear. Persephone editions have uniform grey covers and dust wrappers with lovely decorated endpapers (see image) unique to each title. A lovely copy.; Originally published in 1944, this is an engrossing and thoughtful tale of World War II at the time of the fall of Tobruk in 1942, one of the low points of the war. "A novel like Jocelyn Playfair’s is an exact, unaffected evocation of things as they were at the time. It is ‘the conflict between the contentment of the garden, cooking and home, and the cataclysmic events outside that forms the leitmotif,’ writes Ruth Gorb in the preface." Cressida is the caretaker for a house, and its temporary inhabitants, in the English countryside. "Through conversations with the lodgers who are finding temporary refuge in the house Cressida re-evaluates everything with intelligence and insight; she realises that ‘things would never be the same again.’ The relative tranquillity of her surroundings is deftly contrasted with what is happening to Charles Valery, the owner of the house, who has been torpedoed and, floating in a boat hoping for rescue, thinks about his past life." Recommended.; Recommended by Jane T. and Lyn B. author of the 'I Prefer Reading' blog and member of the DoveGrey and DES email discussion groups.
Price:
17.50 USD
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