Time Change: An Autobiography by Hope Cooke - 1980

New York: Simon & Schuster, 1980. AX3 - A first edition (complete numberline) hardcover book SIGNED by Hope Cooke on the front free endpaper in very good condition in fair dust jacket that is mylar protected. Dust jacket has some moderate tears with wrinkling, chipping and crease on the top, some wrinkling, chipping, crease and small tears on the edges, corners, and some sides, old price label adhered on the front flap, tanning, and light shelf wear. Book has remainder mark on the bottom, some bumped corners, some stains patches on the page edges and endpapers, light discoloration and shelf wear. 9.5"x6.5", 285 pages. Satisfaction Guaranteed. A wise, lyrical and funny book, Time Change is the story of the education of a woman. A precocious American girl growing up in upper-middle-class New York is drawn to the East before it becomes popular and then marries the king-to-be of a tiny Himalayan land. With the novelist's eye for detail, Hope Cooke tells of growing up in the Victorian atmosphere first of her wealthy, snobbish grandmother's home; then with her aunt and uncle, the U.S. Ambassador to Iran. Between brilliant terms at Sarah Lawrence College she plunged into an often hilarious, if occasionally painful, obsession with the East. It was in Danjeeling, India during a summer's stay, alone in the cozy atmosphere of a family hotel, that Cooke met the recently widowed Crown Prince of Sikkim. The story of her engagement and wedding to the Prince and her life in this exotic hidden-away world became the center of international attention and fascination. It is told in full here, for the first time, in Hope Cooke's own voice, with a sharp eye and an uncommon ear for atmosphere and intrigue. It was very soon after their marriage that her husband succeeded his father to the throne. Nearly submerged by the responsibilities of her husband's public (and private) preoccupations and weighed down by the isolation, Cooke worked with children and the schools and coordinated the handicrafts industry for export. Gradually, Hope Cooke grew from a spirited, gifted girl to a many-faceted woman of depth and independence. Eventually Sikkim, increasingly a pawn of power politics, was annexed by India. After a harrowing siege at the beginning of the takeover, in which she and her children were held hostage, Cooke returned to the United States to begin a new life as immigrant and adult. Time Change is, at last, an intimate self-portrait of a girl growing into a woman, finding her own voice, developing a talent for both satire and sensibility, learning the art of survival, and growing in awareness of the dangerous political realities of a small country caught between two powers. It is an unusual story, played out on an unusual stage. But in the hands of this gifted writer, it strikes a universal and bittersweet theme - a coming of age.. Signed by Author. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good/Fair. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Remainder.