The Sign of the Spider: An Episode (Valancourt Classics) - Softcover

Mitford, Bertram

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1934555460 ISBN 13: 9781934555460

Publisher: Valancourt Books, 2008

Synopsis

Laurence Stanninghame walks out of his unhappy marriage in England to pursue adventure in Johannesburg. Things seem to be looking up for Stanninghame, though: on the cruise to South Africa he meets the beautiful Lilith Ormskirk, and when he arrives in Johannesburg he quickly makes his fortune.

But things just as quickly take a turn for the worse when Stanninghame's luck deserts him and he loses everything. Left with seemingly no choice but to put a gun to his head, Stanninghame sets out with a slave trader, Hazon, into the country of the mysterious tribe of the Ba-gcatya, the People of the Spider. Stanninghame is a hardened adventurer, undaunted by danger or death. But even he is unprepared for the horror he encounters when he is marked out as a sacrifice to the monstrous spider-god of the Ba-gcatya!

A thrilling mixture of adventure, romance, and horror, The Sign of the Spider (1896) is nonetheless pervaded throughout by a sense of Mitford's profound pessimism and disillusionment. Although he has long been largely forgotten or dismissed as an imitator of H. Rider Haggard, Mitford is a masterful storyteller, and The Sign of the Spider is one of his finest. This edition includes an introduction and notes by Gerald Monsman, the foremost Mitford scholar.

About this title

About the Author:

Bertram Mitford (13 June 1855 - 4 October 1914) was a colonial writer, novelist, essayist and cultural critic who wrote forty-four books, most of which are set in South Africa.

About this edition

• Publisher: Valancourt Books
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1934555460
• ISBN 13: 9781934555460
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 272
• Editor: Monsman Gerald