Published by Jonathan Cape, London; 1998. 8vo. 178pp. First edition, first impression. Condition: Fine/Fine.
Bound in original black cloth boards with title in silver to the spine. The binding is square and very tight, free from marks or damage, with just a touch of bumping to the spine ends. Inside, the pages are clean and bright and the book appears unread.
The book is housed in its equally smart first issue dust jacket. Apart from some minor bumping to the edges, the photograph to the jacket is bright and smart.
In all, this is a lovely example of this first edition of this contemporary morality tale by Ian McEwan. It is as profound as it is witty and is perhaps one of the most enjoyable of McEwan's works and it won the Booker Prize in 1998. It follows Clive Linley and Vernon Halliday, two old friends who meet at the crematorium to pay respects to Molly Lane, who had been both their lover in their younger years. The two men make a pact that results in consequences that neither of them could have predicted. Each will make a disastrous moral choice, their friendship tested to its very limits and Julian Garmony, another of Molly's previous lovers, will fight for his political life.