The Clematis Tree. ** [Author SIGNED copy.**]

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,author SIGNED,1st edn. FINE/FINE. No owner inscrptn but author's bhandwritten,black ink signature - without dedication - to title page,and no price-clip to dw/dj.Bright,crisp,clean,glossy,scenic colour photographic illustrated front panel,spine and rear panel of dw/dj with white-outlined,capitalised gilt lettered author name and other white lettered title lettering respectively to front panel of dw/dj,similar colour scheme+lettering repeated to spine/backstrip, rear panel with author's colour photograph portrait; with negligible shelf-wear,bumping,creasing to edges and corners – no nicks,tears or splits present.Both panels of dw/dj with minimal,light superficial scoring/ indents but without peneration to boards beneath.Top +fore-edges whilst virtually blemish-free are ubiquitously,but lightly aged/toned (a 20-year-old book) and without foxing/spotting; contents bright, tight,clean,solid and sound – no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners – near pristine,possibly unread,apart from my own collation.Publisher's bright, crisp,clean,sharp-cornered,original plain dark green cloth boards with bright,crisp,blocked gilt lettering to spine/backstrip and immaculate/clean plain white endpapers.UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn,1-277pp [paginated] includes 22 chapters; plus [unpaginated] half-title+title pages,a dedication with author's note to its reverse,a title separator page,and to the rear,2pp blanks. Author's debut novel.
Visually the exterior appearance is exceptional for a book of it's age, and even internally,the book is also in an exceptional condition/state of preservation and presentation.It is only the exterior faults described that prevent a slightly higher grading.Despite them,it really is an exceptional copy for brightness and cleanliness.
'The Clematis Tree' opens deceptively with a party in a sunny Surrey garden.It is a happy day,' with relations and friends celebrating the christening of Mark and Claire's new daughter,Pippa.
Jeremy,their young son,spots a pet rabbit racing across the large garden and rushes through the main gate and out into the lane.A speeding sports car knocks him down and although Jeremy survives,he is now severely brain-damaged.
Widdecombe shows how a middle-class couple and their family are forced to cope with a catastrophe they never imagined could happen to them.Although also drawing on her parliamentary knowledge,'The Clematis Tree' is about people - at work,on holiday, living day by day - and how they,in their different ways,react when death threatens.
What is Claire's guilty secret,she who is so outwardly efficient in dealing with Jeremy in his utterly dependent state? Mark ponders escape,but has he the nerve? Does the attention lavished on Jeremy foster Pippa's resentment? Can Claire's wealthy,self-made father provide a solution? And what effect does Claire's younger sister,Sally,an MP,have when she launches a Private Member's Bill that would legalise euthanasia?
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