The Fixed Period

First published in 1882, this satirical novel is set in Britannula, a fictional former British colony in the South Pacific that has adopted a law requiring citizens to retire at sixty-seven and be euthanized a year later, the Fixed Period. President John Neverbend, who narrates, defends the scheme as thrift and mercy while his friend Gabriel Crasweller, first on the list, and Crasweller's daughter Eva resist. A British warship arrives to halt the experiment. The book is a political fable about compulsory death and colonial self-rule, not a realistic Trollope chronicle of English county society.

Quarter green series binding, pale green paper boards with the border in green. Pale green endleaves. Dark green slipcase.