THE ICE AGE.** by DRABBLE**, MARGARET:

LONDON.WEIDENFELD & NICOLSON,1977.UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn. MINT/NMINT.No owner inscrptn,and no price-clip to dw/dj.An immaculate,unread copy.Glossy,laminated,colour pictorial artwork illustrated dw/dj by Colleen Paynebright,with b/w, author portrait photographic rear wrap with negligible shelf-wear or creasing to edges - no nicks or tears present - and no sunning/fading to spine/backstrip as is usual/ normal with this edition.Top+fore-edges bright,clean and near pristine; contents bright,tight and pristine - no dog-ear reading creases to pages' corners - in fact some of the top page-edges in the later signatures are still partially uncut/opened.Immaculate,plain dark blue paper-covered boards with bright,crisp,blocked gilt letters to spine/backstrip and immaculate plain white endpapers.UK,8vo HB+ dw/dj,1st edn,9-297pp includes half-title+title pages. With novels such as 'The Millstone', 'Jerusalem the Golden' and 'The Needle's Eye', Margaret Drabble has firmly established her position as a writer in the forefront of British novelists today. With 'The Ice Age',she has written what many consider her finest work to date (then 1977),a book that is a triumph of incisive but humane irony. Anthony Keating,a rebel against his liberal upbringing, has switched from producing 'social conscious' programmes on television - to property speculation.A spell of enforced idleness at his seventeenth-century North Yorkshire moors home causes him to reappraise the direction in which he is heading.The sour winds of the seventies have blown out some of the spirit of ebullient enterprise of the decade before,and Anthony himself feels threatened from all sides.Alison Murray,the woman that Anthony Keating loves,is suffering the pangs of middle age. Emerging from her marriage to an egocentric actor,and having given up a promising career in acting herself,Alison finds herself torn between the needs of her two daughters: Jane in prison behind the Iron Curtain,and Molly,whose cerebral palsy necessitates constant care and security. Through Anthony and Alison we are introduced to their families and friends:to Anthony's former wife,the chaotic Babs;to Len Wincobank, Anthony's idol in the whiz-kid property speculation line - now doing time in Scratby Open Prison;to Maureen,Len's cheerful and down-to-earth girlfriend;to Kitty Friedmann,survivor of a restaurant bombing; to Linton Hancox,brilliant classics scholar and poet of talent - twenty years ago. As the events of the novel unfold,Anthony Keating's own searching for more meaning in his life takes a surprising turn when he discovers,by sheer chance, exactly the modus vivendi that can give piquancy to his middle-age angst.In this brilliant tragi-comedy,Margaret Drabble examines the complex spectacle of Britain struggling through the early nineteen seventies.An exceptional copy,in a particularly high grade - the best I've ever handled. Please contact rpaxtonden@blueyonder.co.uk ,because of the lighter weight and the value of this item,for correct,insured shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page! ** N.B. ALL buyers please note,stocks' actual shipping/P+p costs are adjusted and any difference is refunded,after order's receipt and before the order's despatch,especially if the item(s) are offered either P+p included/FREE. ** This item offered P+p included.Offer available UK only,unless indicated otherwise. ** ** N.B. US customers please be aware: US Standard AIRMAIL postage from UK to USA can now cost more than the price of the book! If speed is not of the essence,then Economy rate is recommended - at approx. anything from a 1/3rd to 1/2 of the standard US AIR quote/rate - sometimes arriving sooner than the 42 days - but not always.