LARK AND TERMITE

New York City, NY: Alfred A Knopf, 2009. First Edition. First Printing.. Hardcover. Fine/Fine Dust Jacket.. New York City, NY: Alfred A Knopf, 2009. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. First Edition/First Printing. 260 pages. The author's fourth novel. Jayne Anne Phillips' best book. The First Hardcover Edition in its First Printing and First-State DJ (NO "National Book Award Finalist" Imprint). Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Jayne Anne Phillips' "Lark And Termite". Her homage to rapidly disappearing Small-Town America (West Virginia, where she's from), her first book in nine years, and her sublime masterpiece. "This poetic novel alternates between the last hours of Robert Leavitt, a corporal in the US Army, pinned down in a tunnel in South Korea, in 1950, and the story of his disabled son, Termite, who, nine years later, is living with his half-sister, Lark, and their aunt in West Virginia. Lark knows little of her mother and even less of her father, and pours herself into nurturing Termite, whose stunted body and lack of language has Social Services perpetually threatening to take him away. The appearance of a sympathetic social worker marks the beginning of a great fracture in their lives, which culminates in a flood that reveals the past and makes way for a new future. Phillips gives each scene an evocative, often lyrical description. A moving exploration of familial love" (The New Yorker Magazine). It's a more unusual kind of love therefore even more (heart-breakingly) beautiful: Between impoverished sister and brother, between aunt, her nephew, and niece. The parents are missing altogether. An absolute "must-have" title for Jayne Anne Phillips collectors. This copy is very boldly and beautifully signed in blue ink-pen on the title page by Jayne Anne Phillips. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. Her signature on this copy is the best we have ever seen. It comes with pristine copies of the Souvenir Materials (including the event ticket) of the National Book Award Finalists Reading during which event her signature was obtained. This title is a contemporary classic. As far as we know, this is the only such signed copy (with NBA Souvenir Materials) of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing/First-State DJ (NO "National Book Award Finalist" Imprint) still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws or are in multiple subsequent printings. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A scarce signed copy thus. Finalist of the National Book Award in 2009 for "Lark And Termite". One of the most brilliant writers of our time. A fine copy. . ISBN 0375401954.