Wicker Man - Hardcover

Hardy, Robin; Shaffer, Anthony

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0600394646 ISBN 13: 9780600394648

Publisher: Hamlyn, 1979

Synopsis

Very Good, "A Novel of Pagan Sensuality and Ritual Murder". Robin Hardy and Anthony Shaffer. 1st UK Edition Hamlyn 1979 a year after the true US 1st Edition by Crown NY. Save for very slight lean, immaculate black buckram boards with bright gilt title to spine and crisp corners to boards and leaves. In immaculate unclipped dustwrapper, no rubbing, chipping or previous signs of ownership. Rare in this fine condition. A good price for a near fine copy. This is the novelisation of the cult horror classic of 1973. Both 1st US and 1st UK were printed when the newly restored version of the Directors Cut was released in the US, causing a resurgence of interest.

About this title

Review:

A novelisation of the notoriously censored 1973 film, The Wicker Man is a compulsive study of faith and temptation--a tale that, on its release, must have been entirely without precedent for its stark treatment of taboo subjects such as pagan worship, kidnap and sacrifice. Interestingly, while the film, shunted from its top billing by nervous studio bosses, came across as a simple morality tale, that of good versus evil, the novel revels in a complex ambiguity that questions the very nature of religious faith to the core, and if anything, is even more of an affront to the Christian consensus.

The plot centres on Sergeant Howie's investigation of the disappearance of a child on the remote islands off the north coast of Scotland. On the isolated isle of Summerisle he finds a society that has long turned its back on Christianity, in favour of the worship of a heathen religion devoted to the rites of fertility and the pleasures of the flesh. Howie becomes convinced that Summerisle's May Day harvest festival will culminate in a sacrifice--yet at every turn, he is confronted by temptation and perversion, an invitation that, despite his devout chastity, he struggles to resist. The workings of the alien community of Summerisle are rendered with impressive attention to detail throughout, through Sergeant Howie's naive, Puritan eye--a detail that gets more foreboding, more grisly, as the tale reaches an arcane climax. And while it's wholly predictable, The Wicker Man concludes with a sense of creeping doom, as chilling as it is inevitable. --Louis Pattison

Book Description:

First published in 1978, five years after the release of the classic horror film from which it is adapted, this reissue brings back into print a book much sought-after by horror buffs and cineasts.

About this edition

• Publisher: Hamlyn
• Publication date: 1979
• ISBN 10: 0600394646
• ISBN 13: 9780600394648
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 216