The Sign of Four

Arthur Conan Doyle; Shafquat Towheed [Editor]

ISBN 10: 1551118378 / ISBN 13: 9781551118376

Published by Broadview Press, 2010

Seller Inventory # 1551118378-3-24145896

Synopsis:

Gripping and ingeniously plotted, this Sherlock Holmes novel is also an important document of late-Victorian imperialism. Arthur Conan Doyle's second Sherlock Holmes novel is both a detective story and an imperial romance. Ostensibly the story of Mary Morstan, a beautiful young woman enlisting the help of Holmes to find her vanished father and solve the mystery of her receipt of a perfect pearl on the same date each year, it gradually uncovers a tale of treachery and human greed. The action audaciously ranges from penal settlements on the Andaman Islands to the suburban comfort of South London, and from the opium-fuelled violence of Agra Fort during the Indian 'Mutiny' to the cocaine-induced contemplation of Holmes' own Baker Street. This edition places Doyle's tale in the cultural, political, and social contexts of late nineteenth-century colonialism and imperialism. The appendices provide a wealth of relevant extracts from hard-to-find sources, ranging from official reports to memoirs, and newspaper editorials to anthropological studies.

About the Author: Arthur Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh in 1859. Sent off to boarding school, he cut his teeth as a story-teller amusing his schoolmates with tales and writing letters home to his mother.He practiced medicine and, in 1900, volunteered as a medic in Africa during the Boer War - he was later knighted for his service. Doyle lost a son, two brothers in law, and two nephews to the Great War. He is remembered for the Sherlock Holmes stories and his novel The Lost World.

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Sign of Four
Publisher: Broadview Press
Publication Date: 2010
Binding: Paperback
Condition: Good