The Boarding-House

First edition. 8vo. 287pp. Brick-red textured paper boards, lettered in gilt to spine. Book Society Alternative Choice. Jacket design by Bernard Blatch (priced '21s net' to front flap).

Light age-toning to textblock edges, cream illustrated dustjacket mildly tanned to spine and edges, else intact.

Author's third novel. Mr Bird takes in boarders whom society would never miss – if it ever noticed them at all. Then he makes a fatal mistake: he dies. Winner of the David Cohen Literature Prize in recognition of a lifetime's literary achievement. Knighted for his services to literature in 2002. "Trevor has the knack of slicing life so that it reveals lower layers we have not suspected." –Daily Mail