Savrola

London: Beacon Books (Odhams Press Ltd.), 1957. Paperback. This is the second paperback edition of Churchill's third published book and only novel (the first paperback edition being published 49 years earlier in 1908). Condition is very good for a paperback of this vintage. The binding is square and tight. The illustrated covers are bright and clean, showing only light wear at the hinges and extremities. We note no vertical creasing to the spine, indicating that this copy is unread. The contents are inevitably age-toned, but otherwise fine with no spotting or previous ownership marks.

When Savrola was first published in February 1900, a very young Churchill was exuberant. Even though Savrola was his third published book, it was actually the first book he undertook and the second he completed. His “Tale of the Revolution in Laurania” is a melodramatic tale of political intrigue in a fictional Mediterranean state. He later made deprecating comments about his novel and it is perhaps instructive that he never wrote another. In his 1930 autobiography he wrote, "I have consistently urged my friends to abstain from reading it [Savrola]." However, his mixed feelings about his only novel did not keep Churchill from writing a foreword to a new edition in 1956: "The preface to the first edition in 1900 submitted the book 'with considerable trepidation to the judgment or the clemency of the public.' The intervening fifty-five years have somewhat dulled though certainly not changed my sentiments on this point."

It has been argued that, as a literary effort, Savrola gave “dramatic voice to Churchill’s mature philosophical reflections about his fundamental political and ethical principles at the very moment when he settled on them for the rest of his life.” (Powers, Finest Hour #74) Irrespective of Churchill's feelings about his book or the literary merit thereof, the novel certainly provides an interesting insight into the early political perspective and sentiment of the then very young Churchill.

Reference: Cohen A3.8, Woods/ICS A3(f), Langworth p.47