![KYDD, ROBBIE:: THE QUIET STRANGER - A Novel. [Author SIGNED copy.]](../../../images/bookbase.gif)
Buy this book on-line KYDD, ROBBIE: : THE QUIET STRANGER - A Novel. [Author SIGNED copy.]SCOTLAND.EDINBURGH.MAINSTREAM PUBLISHING COMPANY (EDINBURGH) (LTD),1991. ISBN 1851583009.
UK,8vo HB+protected dw/dj,SIGNED,1st edn. FINE/FINE+.No owner inscrptn but author's handwritten,black ink,warm and jocular inscrptn: 'for Mal Robbie Kydd (underscored) 14.4.91 (Sorry the only Welshman in my story is a villain - page 268 ff) and no price-clip to dw/dj.Bright,crisp,clean,glossy laminated,colour pictorial painting (Mulatto Belle,by M.J.Cazabon [1813-1888]) illustrated front panel of dw/dj with red+white and green lettering; with negligible shelf-wear or creasing to edges and corners - no nicks or tears present.Top edges with minimal,sporadic foxing/spotting,otherwise generally bright and clean,fore-edges much less affected with similar spots and brighter and cleaner; contents bright,tight,clean,solid and sound - virtually pristine - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners,appears unread - apart from my own collation.Bright,crisp,clean, sharp-cornered,publisher's original plain olive green cloth boards with bright,crisp,blocked gilt letters to spine/backstrip,b/w regional map (Caribbean Sea with Venezuela,Trinidad and Tobago) illustrated endpapers.UK,8vo HB+dw/dj, 1st edn,7-383pp [paginated] includes 33 chapters,a postscript,appendices which include author's notes,acknowledgements and a glossary; plus [unpaginated] half-title,author SIGNED title page,a dedication and Appendices separator page.
THE QUIET STRANGER being the Life and Times of a Scottish Merchant,known to the World as Richard Mason,who was born in the Island of Tobago in the Year 1767,and who died in the Island of Trinidad in the Year 1849.
Set in the Caribbean islands of Tobago and Trinidad during the turbulent years of the 18th+19thCs, 'THE QUIET STRANGER' is an extraordinarily compelling novel,rich and gripping in narrative and impressive in scope.
Its hero is one Richard Mason,the mysterious 'stranger' from the gothic part of Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre.His father,Jonas,a fierce, impulsive Scottish clan chief,loyal to the Jacobite cause,has fled his homeland to make his fortune on a sugar-estate in primitive Tobago. His mother,Madeleine,is an aristocratic,Paris educated French Creole who cannot cope with this outlandish settlement and takes to the brandy bottle.In this fractious household Richard grows up,a studious,careful and often devious boy,a stranger to his own parents.Despised by his only sister 'Tony',who is a wild,reckless tomboy, Richard tends to his younger brother,a drooling idiot whose presence the rest of the family barely acknowledges.He also forms an illicit bond with the slave-girl Betsy,his 'one true friend',and their developing relationship is the core of the novel.
Echoing the stye of a Victorian novel,it is Richard Mason who narrates this wonderful tale of slavery,hurricanes,rebellion and ruin,and of cruelty,deception and clandestine love.But Robbie Kydd subtly works in a 20thC sensibility which subverts even the most modern notions of black and white,sanity and madness,estrangement and belonging.
Spanning sevety years of one man's life,Kydd has created a mesmerising and beautifully told novel.Set against real events,strong on adventure,peopled with an intriguing mixture of historical and fictional characters (Tony later marries Bronte's Rochester and leaves to become his 'mad' wife),'THE QUIET STRANGER' is a deeply satisfying work which will appeal to all those who love story-telling at its best.
Author's 2nd book; his first: 'Auld Zimmery', was shortlisted for the Royal Bank of Scotland/ Saltire New Writer's Award in 1987.Comprised of short stories interlinked on the theme of 'Seven Ages of Man',it was extremely well received. Uncommon author SIGNED 1st edn,particularly in this good a grade - particularly with the protected dw/dj.
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