BOOK DETAILS
Trade paper ISBN-13: 978-1941147344 List Price: $16.99 U.S. Pages: 158 Published: 2014 |
A Ring of Roses (1965)
John Blackburn With a new introduction by Adrian Schober Book Description
When nine-year-old Billy Fenwick goes missing on a train journey through East Germany, British authorities suspect a kidnapping for ransom, or, worse, a Communist conspiracy. But after Billy returns home safely, it appears his parents’ fears were unfounded – until a 107-degree fever sets in and the buboes begin to appear on his body. Famed bacteriologist Sir Marcus Levin immediately recognizes the signs of bubonic plague, the first outbreak in England since the Black Death of the fourteenth century. But is it a freak occurrence caused by a natural mutation, or Soviet germ warfare, or something even more sinister? The trail leads Sir Marcus and General Kirk of British Intelligence to an ancient German crypt, where a macabre relic from 600 years ago will provide the crucial clue in unravelling the diabolical plot of a madman hellbent on wiping out the human race! One of the prolific John Blackburn’s most effective thrillers, A Ring of Roses (1965) updates medieval legends and the tales of the Grimm brothers into a chilling modern-day horror story. This edition, the first in decades, features a new introduction by Adrian Schober. |
reviews
‘Our only current writer who can induce such terror as the Grimm brothers did, and some of the Grimm characters are among the ingredients in this hellbrew of the return of the Black Death.’ – Times Literary Supplement
‘A splendid example of a gripping narrative that also connects to a real intelligence . . . has [an] original vitality.’ – David Hare, Spectator
‘A violently exciting modern suspense story.’ – St. Louis Post-Dispatch
‘Best of recent intrigue-thrillers’ – Anthony Boucher, New York Times
‘International intrigue . . . in a well-paced story . . . A really good cliffhanger’ – Kansas City Star
‘A splendid example of a gripping narrative that also connects to a real intelligence . . . has [an] original vitality.’ – David Hare, Spectator
‘A violently exciting modern suspense story.’ – St. Louis Post-Dispatch
‘Best of recent intrigue-thrillers’ – Anthony Boucher, New York Times
‘International intrigue . . . in a well-paced story . . . A really good cliffhanger’ – Kansas City Star
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AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
John Blackburn was born in 1923 in the village of Corbridge, England, the second son of a clergyman. He started attending Haileybury College near London in 1937, but his education was interrupted by the onset of World War II; the shadow of the war, and that of Nazi Germany, would later play a role in many of his works. He served as a radio officer during the war in the Mercantile Marine from 1942 to 1945, and resumed his education afterwards at Durham University, earning his bachelor’s degree in 1949. Blackburn taught for several years after that, first in London and then in Berlin, and married Joan Mary Clift in 1950. Returning to London in 1952, he took over the management of Red Lion Books.
It was there that Blackburn began writing, and the immediate success in 1958 of his first novel, A Scent of New-Mown Hay, led him to take up a career as a writer full-time. He and his wife also maintained an antiquarian bookstore, a secondary career that would inform some of Blackburn’s later work. A prolific author, Blackburn would write nearly 30 novels between 1958 and 1985; most of these were horror and thrillers, but also included one historical novel set in Roman times, The Flame and the Wind (1967). He died in 1993.
It was there that Blackburn began writing, and the immediate success in 1958 of his first novel, A Scent of New-Mown Hay, led him to take up a career as a writer full-time. He and his wife also maintained an antiquarian bookstore, a secondary career that would inform some of Blackburn’s later work. A prolific author, Blackburn would write nearly 30 novels between 1958 and 1985; most of these were horror and thrillers, but also included one historical novel set in Roman times, The Flame and the Wind (1967). He died in 1993.