Drabble, Margaret — The Dark Flood Rises

New York, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2017. First American Edition. Hardcover. Size: 8vo 8" - 9" tall. Fine-looking, structurally sound hardcover, little discernible wear, bright interior, unmarked. Bright and shiny dust jacket, illustrated, little worn. Stated First American Edition, First Printing, with "1" or "a" in "number" line present. Previous owner's inscription, neatly rendered, being that of the Richland, Oregon-based oil paints-based fine painter, Richard Murray. From the publisher's blurb, "A magnificently mordant reckoning with mortality by the great British novelist. Francesca Stubbs has a very full life. A highly regarded expert on housing for the elderly who is herself getting on in age, she drives restlessly round England, which is 'her last love'. She wants to 'see it all before she dies'. Amid the professional conferences she attends, she fits in visits to old friends, brings home-cooked dinners to her ex-husband, texts her son, who is grieving over the sudden death of his girlfriend, and drops in on her daughter, a quirky young woman who lives in a floodplain in the West Country. The space between vitality and mortality suddenly seems narrow, but Fran is not ready to settle yet, with a 'cat upon her knee'. She still prizes her 'frisson of autonomy', her belief in herself as a dynamic individual doing meaningful work in the world. This dark and glittering novel moves back and forth between an interconnected group of family and friends in England and a seemingly idyllic expat community in the Canary Islands. It is set against a backdrop of rising flood tides in Britain and the seismic fragility of the Canaries, where we also observe the flow of immigrants from an increasingly war-torn Middle East. With Margaret Drabble's characteristic wit and deceptively simple prose, The Dark Flood Rises enthralls, entertains, and asks existential questions in equal measure. Of course, there is undeniable truth in Francesca's insight (etc.)." 327 pp. plus a note about the author.Member, I.O.B.A., C.B.A., and adherent to the highest ethical standards. . . . Fine/Near Fine,