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The Cleft
by LESSING, Doris
- Used
- Hardcover
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
-
Lewes, East Sussex, United Kingdom
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
London: Fourth Estate, 2007.. Second impression. 8vo. (xii), 260 pp. Publisher's black cloth, gilt to the spine, dust jacket, not price clipped, signed by the author on the title page. Occasional soiling to the ostensibly white dust jacket, else very good.
Synopsis
Doris Lessing, one of England's finest living novelists, invites us to imagine a mythical society free from sexual intrigue, free from jealousy, free from petty rivalries: a society free from men.An old Roman senator, contemplative at his late stage of life, embarks on what will likely be his last endeavour: the retelling of the story of human creation. He recounts the history of the Clefts, an ancient community of women living in an Edenic, coastal wilderness, confined within the valley of an overshadowing mountain. The Clefts have no need, or knowledge, of men – childbirth is controlled, like the tides that lap around their feet, through the cycles of the moon, and their children are always female. But with the unheralded birth of a strange, new child – a boy – the harmony of their community is suddenly thrown into jeopardy. At first, in their ignorance, the Clefts are awestruck by this seemingly malformed child, but as more and more of these threateningly unfamiliar males appear, now unfavourably nicknamed Squirts, they are rejected, and are exposed on the nearby mountainside; sacrificed to the patrolling eagles overhead, the sentinels of their female haven. Unbeknownst to the Clefts, however, these baby males survive, aided by the very eagles sent to kill them, and thrive on their own on the other side of the mountain. It is not until an unusually curious young Cleft named Maire goes beyond the geographical, and emotional, divide of the mountain that this disquieting fact is uncovered – a discovery that forces the Clefts to accept and realign themselves to the prospect of a now shared world, and the possible vengeance of the wronged males. In this fascinating and beguiling novel, Lessing confronts head-on the themes that inspired much of her early writing: how men and women, two similar and yet thoroughly distinct creatures, manage to live side by side in the world, and how the specifics of gender affect every aspect of our existence.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Bow Windows Bookshop
(GB)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 30970
- Title
- The Cleft
- Author
- LESSING, Doris
- Book Condition
- Used
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Publisher
- London: Fourth Estate
- Date Published
- 2007.
- Keywords
- Literature LITERATURE
Terms of Sale
Bow Windows Bookshop
14 day return guarantee, with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 14 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
Bow Windows Bookshop
Biblio member since 2006
Lewes, East Sussex
About Bow Windows Bookshop
Bow Windows Bookshop has a large general stock of old and fine books and maps. Owned in partnership by Ric Latham and Jonathan Menezes, we buy and sell all manner of titles from early leatherbound volumes to modern first editions. We exhibit at bookfairs in the UK and North America and issue regular printed catalogues. Located in the beautiful county town of Lewes in the south-east of England, we are open six days a week. All our books are described as accurately as possible and we abide by the Code of Good Practice of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Title Page
- A page at the front of a book which may contain the title of the book, any subtitles, the authors, contributors, editors, the...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- Price Clipped
- When a book is described as price-clipped, it indicates that the portion of the dust jacket flap that has the publisher's...
- Gilt
- The decorative application of gold or gold coloring to a portion of a book on the spine, edges of the text block, or an inlay in...
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