The Spectral Island
Language: English
Published by Matador, 2021
- Softcover
- New

Seller: Revaluation Books, Exeter, United KingdomRevaluation Books
AbeBooks seller since January 6, 2003
Condition: New
£ 16.62
Quantity: 2 available
Add to basketItem description from seller
344 pages. 7.80x5.12x2.44 inches. In Stock.
Seller Inventory # x-1800463863
- Title
- The Spectral Island
- Author
- Stephen de Burges
- Publisher
- Matador
- Publication year
- 2021
- Condition
- Brand New
- Binding
- Paperback
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 1800463863
- ISBN 13
- 9781800463868
- Item weight
- 0.4 kilograms
The mountains and waters of Ivundé, in the Indian Ocean, contain something of immense value. To gain control of the Island, a shadowy Middle East group uses the cover of a madrassas-building project to arrange what at first sight is a local extremist takeover. The UK/US, with the help of local sources, and a retired academic and a professional intelligence officer – who discover the truth – use their Special Forces, re-gain control of the Island.
This is a story of deception. Power deceives as it manipulates reality. Those who wield it – the diplomats and politicians – can only behave as their experience and allegiances allow them to, and the Island looks certain to be dragged from its idyllic existence, where time is of little essence, into a hectic Nauruesque future.
Some of those who live on the Island will see only clouds, others, silver linings. They include: Rosalie, a smart, if unsophisticated semi-local, and her US cowboy husband; ‘free-thinkers’, Valli and Meera, who, with their ‘daughters’, dispense wisdom and Darjeeling from their Emporium in the town; and Madame Lemesurier, owner of the Mirabile, who seeks guidance from her husband, at rest under a marble slab below a baobab in the Hotel gardens.
At the centre of the conspiracy, and under the control of the shadowy Middle East group, is a Chinese scientist. From enforced exile in North Korea, he has been ‘lent’ to the group and compelled to carry out ‘disturbing’ research from his prison on a madrassa site.
The wild landscape of the Island, its madrassas’ construction sites and its hotel, the run-down Mirabilé, provide much of the setting for the story, though the exercise of deception also pushes the action from place-to-place: a faceless office in London, GCHQ, the military bases of Djibouti and Diego Garcia, and the Presidential Palace in the mainland capital.
"Synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Revaluation Books
Exeter, United Kingdom
AbeBooks seller since January 6, 2003
Shipping rates from United Kingdom to U.S.A.
| Item | 7 to 14 business days | 2 to 3 business days |
|---|---|---|
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Edward Bowditch Ltd
Exstowe, Exton
Exeter, United Kingdom EX3 0PP
Terms of sale
Legal entity name: Edward Bowditch Ltd
Legal entity form: Limited company
Business correspondence address: Exstowe, Exton, Exeter, EX3 0PP
Company registration number: 04916632
VAT registration: GB834241546
Authorised representative: Mr. E. Bowditch
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