The Flood

First edition. 8vo. Pp. 188, [4, blank]. Publisher's red cloth, lettered in gilt to spine. Jacket illustration by Kerry Kirkwood (priced £9.95 to front flap). Signed by Author to title page.

Rankin's first novel, "started life as a short story, but soon took on a life of its own". Heavy with symbolism and allegory, and set in the Fife town where the author grew up, the story concerns a single mother, ostracised as a young girl after falling into a flood of chemical run-off. Written while Rankin was working towards his doctorate in Scottish literature and published by Polygon, a student-run press at Edinburgh University in a limited print run of 300 hardbacks (200 according to the author) and 750 trade paperbacks.