The Quick and the Dead

The Quick and the Dead

Gerald Bullet

Gerald Bullet

This is a short, meditative novel written in the first person, recollecting events in the narrator's childhood. The instigating crisis of the story is the revelation, when he is six, that he is the offspring of an adulterous affair. His biological father has just gone off to war and plays no direct part in the story. The main characters are his legal father, Robert, a man of generous spirit, his mother, relatives, and two contrasting preachers, one authentic, the other a monster of self-righteousness who meets with a grisly end. Written with meticulous skill, as is typical of this author, this is a beautiful story that everyone will enjoy.
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The Happy Mariners

The Happy Mariners

Gerald Bullet

Gerald Bullet

The four Robinson children, 12 year old Rex, 10 and a half year old twins Guy and Elizabeth, and Martin, who is 7, are about to go on an astonishing adventure. Their sleepy life in a quiet London suburb will be exchanged in an instant for a dangerous sea-voyage, a battle with pirates, an encounter with cannibals, and a very serious mission to find an iced cake on a desert island.
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The Daughters of Mrs Peacock

The Daughters of Mrs Peacock

Gerald Bullet

Gerald Bullet

The Peacocks are five in family: father, mother, and three daughters. The year is 1870 or thereabouts. But though the opening chapter has the cool detachment of a 'period piece', it is not long before we are caught up in a passionate concern with the girls' love affairs and the undercurrent of conflict between the two generations. By his self-imposed discipline of Victorianism Mr Bullett has succeeded in creating a story more tense and exciting than many a self-styled 'thriller'- the intimate story of three marriageable young ladies, each of whom, though they are united in family affection, is a person apart, with her own special quality and character. They live in a small comfortable world, with a dryly humorous father and an affectionate mother who knows all the answers. Why should they wish to escape from such sweet security? And yet ...
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Eden River

Eden River

Gerald Bullet

Gerald Bullet

Eden River tells the story of the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, as they make their way in Paradise, living by the river of Eden. Here, Gerald Bullett brings his characteristic style and grace to one of the oldest stories known to man.
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The Pandervils

The Pandervils

Gerald Bullet

Gerald Bullet

This omnibus contains The History of Egg Pandervil and Nicky, Son of Egg. Bullett writes in the 1930 edition 'In this volume the two parts of one novel, divided hitherto by the accident of their several publication, appear as a continuous whole: which is to say, as originally planned by their author. It was not the tale of Egg but of Nicky that I sat down to tell... only to discover, after writing a few paragraphs, that of these two Pandervils, father and youngest son, the father, being overscored with the intimate tracery of time, was at the moment the far likelier to engage my passionate interest... So it is that the heart of Egg Pandervil, which... becomes, and remains to the end, the true heart of this novel.'
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A Man of Forty

A Man of Forty

Gerald Bullet

Gerald Bullet

This is the story of how young Adam Swinford, happily tipsy, forgets a weekend engagement in the country, and how in consequence his friend David Brome, waiting for Adam at Chiselbrook Station, gives a lift to beautiful Mary Wilton, with whom he falls in love. David is an outwardly comfortable, inwardly restive 40-year-old, retired on a Civil Service pension. Lydia, his nervous, brown wife for 15 years, has a knack for making him feel stupid. One spring day in the country after weeks of hovering, David finally gets a kiss from Mary, and confesses to Lydia, whom he cannot leave. David readily comes to realize that he must accept his ordeal. Meanwhile in London, smooth Adam Swinford is carrying on his affair with a pick up named Lily Elvers. But Adam gets tired of Lily about the time that she gets pregnant. And about the same time that the irresolute David begins to bore cool Mary, she meets Adam...
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