The Greengage Summer

First published in 1958, this novel is narrated by Cecil, an English girl among five siblings left at a hotel on the Marne when their mother is taken ill on the journey. The eldest sister, Joss, is drawn into the household of Madame Zizi and the charming Eliot, whose guests, locked rooms, and sudden absences point to a crime rather than a holiday. Ripening greengages, river heat, and the hotel's mixed French and English traffic form the setting as the children learn how little they understand adult bargains. The book is a coming-of-age crime story, not a pastoral of French country life.

Bound in green cloth blocked with a design in dark green and gold. Dark green slipcase.