The Rain Forest

First edition. 8vo. Pp. [vi], 280. Dark green cloth, lettered in gilt to spine.

Upper corners lightly bumped; neat ownership inscription to f.f.e.p. Edges and corners of dustjacket slightly rubbed, sustaining a couple of small closed tears.

Novel set on Al-Bustan – an imaginary Indian Ocean island – which satirises British expatriate values, by the author of the Balkan and Levant trilogies. One of a handful of her titles still in print, the uneven quality of her output thought to blame, although a 1987 TV adaptation of the trilogies, collectively known as Fortunes of War, briefly lifted her sales. "The most considerable of our women novelists." –Anthony Burgess