The Last Days Of Dogtown Paperback - 2006

London: Pan Books. Very Good. 2006. Reprint; First Printing. Paperback. Light reading and cover corner creases, minor shelf wear, ink name to front endpaper, paper lightly edge toned. ; First UK paperback edition, first printing with full number line. Nice tight copy. Cover design uncredited with images courtesy of Corbis and lettering by Stephen Raw. Heavy book and priced accordingly. ; 384 pages; The tiny rural backwater of Dogtown nestled on Cape Ann. It's few remaining inhabitants show an enduring spirit that keeps life and love alive. For here, in this forgotten hamlet in the early nineteenth century, lives a cast of dignified, yet utterly eccentric characters. Black Ruth, one of only two Africans still living in the area; she dresses as a man, speaks to no-one, and continues her craft as the local stonemason. Mrs Stanley is blousey, blonde and the local madam; totally self-absorbed, she cares nothing for her young grandson, coming of age amid the sights and sounds of a rural brothel. Oliver Younger overcomes a cruel and miserable childhood to find happiness in marriage and fatherhood. At the heart of it all is Judy Rhines, a fiercely independent woman, generous and wise, but also heartbroken and lonely, whose taboo love for Cornelius, a former slave, burns at the centre of her soul. .