Almost Innocent

New York: Simon & Schuster, 1984. N5 - A 2nd printing hardcover book SIGNED by Sheila Bosworth on the front free endpaper in very good condition in very good dust jacket. Dust jacket has some wrinkling, chipping, crease and few tiny tears on the edges and corners, less than half-inch tear on the back top right corner, dust jacket and book have some bumped corners, light tanning and shelf wear. 8.75"x5.5", 268 pages. Satisfaction Guaranteed. This remarkable first novel introduces a young novelist with a sensibility and voice reminiscent of the best Southern writers of the last several decades. Set in New Orleans, the novel offers an extraordinary rendering of a world - that of the Southern gentry - and a place - that mysterious, eccentric and seductive city on the Mississippi delta. Narrated by a young girl, Clay-Lee Calvert, it is the tragic story of her family. Her mother, Constance, was an exquisite, beautifully young woman, one of those Southern women soft and ethereal on the outside but hard as iron inside, who was doomed by her passion for Rand Calvert, aristocratic but artistic and destined never to be able to provide Constance with the life she needed and was born to expect. Creating a cast of colorful characters - from the elegant aunt Lady-Sidonie to the manipulative, rich uncle Baby Brother - Sheila Bosworth brings them to life with her gift for capturing a personality with a word or a gesture. Vibrant, lyrical, and compelling, Almost Innocent represents the debut of a young writer emerging from a great literary tradition.. Signed by Author. 2nd Printing. Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.