The Beach

First US edition. 8vo. Pp. [viii], 371. Quarter-bound black cloth over purple paper boards, title stamped in mauve foil to spine; mosquito intaglio blind-stamped to front panel; black endpapers. Jacket design by Marc J. Cohen. First edition in hardback.

Light edgewear to dustwrapper, else Fine.

Author's literary debut. Winner of the 1997 Betty Trask Prize for Best First Novel by a writer under the age of 35. No. 8 in The Telegraph's 20 Best Travel Books of All Time. Listed on the BBC's survey 'The Big Read' in 2003. A Newsday Favourite Book of the Year. A gap-year student in search of a mythic Thai paradise soon finds his utopian hideaway turning into a nightmare. Basis for Danny Boyle's 2000 cult movie, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tilda Swinton and Robert Carlyle. ''A white-knuckle ride into the heart of darkness.'' –Sunday Times