"Gallows' Orchard" 1930 SPENCER, Claire
$250
SPENCER, Claire
[285] pp.
Jonathan Cape & Harrison Smith
1930
7 3/4" x 5 1/2"
VG/ VG
A beautifully jacketed debut novel by this Scottish author who moved to the US; 'the story of a girl whose fearlessness antagonizes the little village in Scotland which is her home, of her effect upon the three men who love her, and how she perishes finally at the hands of her righteous townsfolk.' Quite a scarce imprint, the American publishing house Jonathan Cape & Harrison Smith only existing for four years before going bankrupt. Fortunately, Jonathan Cape kept going in the UK, going on to publish, amongst many others, Ian Fleming.
An excellent copy of the debut novel by a Scottish-born novelist. Claire Spencer was born in Paisley, Scotland, spent her early youth in that city and the Highlands, before emigrating to the United States in 1918. She married the editor and publisher Harrison Smith; they had two children. Divorced in 1933, the same year Claire married John Evans, the only son of arts patron Mable Dodge Luhan. In 'Gallows' Orchard', "marriage and childbirth and death take on distorted forms for Effie Gallows. Her neighbors loathe and fear her, and eventually the village children stone her to death".
Listed as a marginal mystery in Hubin, the novel tells of a girl whose fearlessness antagonizes the Scottish village she lives in, entangling murder, marriage, birth and death into the mix. A book most well-known for its striking dustjacket art, a high spot in jacket illustration for the period.