The Gate of Angels : Signed : First printing
Language: English
Published by Collins, London, United Kingdom, 1990
- First Edition
- Signed
- Hardcover
- Used
Seller: PW Books, Andover, HANTS, United KingdomPW Books
AbeBooks seller since October 17, 2013
Condition: Used - Very good
£ 129.95
Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketItem description from seller
True first British printing with original unclipped jacket (£12.95). Signed by the author in black ink directly to title page without dedication. Jacket has minor patchy edge/shelf wear, the odd small mark, one small patch of wear/loss to top (picture) surface to front, the odd small crease/rub to edges, minor pushing/rubbing to head/tail of spine and to corners, the odd small scratch and a few small marks/old damp mark to reverse (white side). Boards are near fine with a hint of pushing to corners and minor pushing/rubbing to head/tail of spine. Pages are generally clean and the binding is tight. Pages are a little tanned. Odd small mark/spot of foxing/scratches to top edge of pages. Very occasional small mark to pages. No other faults. All books described honestly and accurately. Paypal accepted.
Seller Inventory # 010661
- Title
- The Gate of Angels : Signed : First printing
- Author
- Fitzgerald, Penelope
- Publisher
- Collins, London, United Kingdom
- Publication year
- 1990
- Condition
- Very Good
- Dust jacket
- Very Good
- Signed
- Signed by Author(s)
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 0002235277
- ISBN 13
- 9780002235273
- Edition
- 1st Edition
- Printing
- 1st Printing
"Synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Review
Daisy, however, suffers from a very non-Harlequin malady, the sort found only in Fitzgerald: "All her life she had been at a great disadvantage in finding it so much more easy to give than to take. Hating to see anyone in want, she would part without a thought with money or possessions, but she could accept only with the caution of a half-tamed animal." Self- protection is certainly not this young woman's strong suit, but we admire her endurance. At one moment, Fred points out that "women like to live on their imagination". Daisy's response? "It's all they can afford, most of them."
Set in Cambridge and London in 1912, The Gate of Angels is a love story and a novel of ideas. Fred, a rector's son, has abandoned religion for observable truths, whereas the undereducated Daisy is a Christian for whom the truth is entirely relative. The novel's strengths lie in what we have come to expect from Fitzgerald: a blend of the hilarious, the out-of-kilter, and the intellectually and emotionally provocative. She confronts her characters with chaos (theoretical and magical), women's suffrage and seemingly impossible choices, and we can by no means be assured of a happy outcome. "They looked at each other in despair, and now there seemed to be another law or regulation by which they were obliged to say to each other what they did not mean and to attack what they wished to defend."
Fitzgerald's novel also records the onslaught of the modern on traditions and beliefs it will fail to obliterate entirely: women as second-class citizens and a class-ridden society in which the poor suffer deep financial and moral humiliation. The author sees the present pleasures--Cambridge jousts in which debaters must argue not what they believe but its exact opposite--and is often charmed by them. But under the light surface, she proffers an elegant meditation on body and soul, science and imagination, choice and chance. Her characters, as ever, are originals, and even the minor players are memorable: one of Fred's fellows, the deeply incompetent Skippey, is "loved for his anxiety", because he makes others feel comparatively calm.
Fitzgerald fills all of her period novels with odd, charming, and disturbing facts and descriptions. Some, like the catalogue of killing medicines Daisy administers, are strictly researched and wittily conveyed: "Over-prescriptions brought drama to the patients' tedious day. Too much antimony made them faint, too much quinine caused buzzing in the ears, too much salicylic acid brought on delirium..." Others are the product of microscopic observation, that is, imagination. Fred's family home is in hyperfertile Blow Halt, a place where no one thinks to buy vegetables, so free are they for the taking. But within this paradise, his mother and sisters are sewing banners for women's suffrage, and nature launches a quiet threat: "Twigs snapped and dropped from above, sticky threads drifted across from nowhere, there seemed to be something like an assassination, on a small scale, taking place in the tranquil heart of summer."
"About the title" may belong to another edition of this title.
PW Books
Andover, HANTS, United Kingdom
AbeBooks seller since October 17, 2013
Shipping rates from United Kingdom to U.S.A.
| Item | 15 to 20 business days | 10 to 15 business days |
|---|---|---|
| First item | £ 22.00 | £ 26.00 |
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I am a British bookseller (based in Hampshire) and sell a wide range of collectable books. All books are described honestly and accurately. I sell mainly Modern First Editions, Folio Society, Children's and signed books. I strive to give a great customer service and to offer all my books at a reasonable price. I also try to keep postage (shipping) costs to a minimum. Please feel free to email with any inquiries or for additional information.
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Collectable Children's Books, Folio Society, Modern First EditionsSeller's business information
PW Books
United Kingdom
Terms of sale
I am a British bookseller (based in Hampshire) and sell a wide range of collectable books. All books are described honestly and accurately. I sell mainly Modern First Editions, Folio Society, Children's and signed books. I strive to give a great customer service and to offer all my books at a reasonable price. I also try to keep postage (shipping) costs to a minimum. Please feel free to email/phone with any inquiries or for additional photo's/information.
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