Thursday, March 19, 2009

my darling from the lions

Last week, I ordered a copy of My Darling from the Lions by Alice Denham on Amazon marketplace. The list image was of a modern penguin classics edition, and that's what I thought I'd be getting for $7.
When I opened the package when it came in the mail, I couldn't believe it - they sent me a first edition hardback copy!!! It has that great old-book smell and escaped from a Texas library (always the best kind of book).
Having a first edition of this book means a lot. It was Denham's first novel, and she had to wait ten years until her agent finally found a publisher who was willing to take it on. Just holding the book in my hands was like...I don't know. I'm getting all literature geek on you. But it was like, I was holding something that was the marking of a writer's first great accomplishment: one of the first copies of Alice's first novel. This book is from that first run of books that meant so much to her.
I've read her autobiography. I love the elegant way she writes. I admire her as a person. I'm so pleased to have a first edition of this book. I can't wait to read it.

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