The Heat of the Day. London: Jonathan Cape & The Book Society, 1949. Book Society Edition. Cloth boards lettered in red, in publisher’s dust jacket, Book Society Choice sticker to the front panel. Pale staining to rear of jacket, otherwise a nice bright copy.

Signed by the Author on the front free endpaper.

A wartime novel set in Blitz-era London, exploring espionage, love, and betrayal against the backdrop of national crisis. The basis for a Harold Pinter adaption for TV that starred Patricia Hodge, Michael York and Michael Gambon.

Elizabeth Bowen (1899-1973) was born in Dublin. She lived in the ancestral home, Bowen’s Court at Farahy, Co. Cork, and l in 1907, she and her mother moved to England. As a novelist and short story writer she is best known for fictional works that focused on life in wartime London and relationships among the upper-middle class.