About this title: When Tom Cutter hires Constantine Shaklin as an engineer in his air freight business, he little realises the extraordinary gifts of his new recruit. Shaklin possesses a religious power which inspires everyone he meets to a new faith and hope for humanity. As Cutter's business grows across Asia, so does Shaklin's fame, until he is widely regarded as a unifying deity. Though he struggles to believe Shaklin is indeed divine, Cutter too finds solace in his friend's teachings, and commits to passing on his message.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Edition: D130. 35¢ original price.
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Dell Publishing by arr. w/ William Morrow & Co., Inc., New York
Date Published: 1951
Description: Garland, George (Cover painting by) Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Signed by previous owner. Spine creasing with concave effect. Tight. Notation inside cover, 'p.219'; light ink bracket marking quote at Chapter 7 heading. Front end quote bracketed as well. 384 p. Illustrated paper covers. Yellow page edges. Fiction: Provocatively dressed woman on cover; 2 men, one in Western garb, other in Arabic-style turban; back cover, unconscious man hanging from parachute caught in evergreen branches ... read more
Edition: Book Club Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: William Morrow, NY
Date Published: 1951
Description: G+ Top of spine is worn with tiny tears, else very minor wear on the clean, sound binding. Name on ffep. Contents are clean and unworn.; 8-1/4" Tall, 341pp. Gray-green tweed boards, black cloth spine, bright silver lettering. FICTION. Map endpapers. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: William Heinemann Ltd
Date Published: 1951
Description: Good. No dust jacket. Spine worn & bumped. Minor soiling to cover. Edge/corner wear. Previous owner's name written on title pg. Creasing to upper corner of several pgs. Faint smudge on pg 6, sm tear to pg 7/8. Text is clean. 362 p. Includes maps. read more
Edition: 1st edition
Binding: hb
Publisher: William Heinemann Ltd., London
Date Published: 1951
Description: endpaper maps. Small 8vo, pp. 362. Corners of boards rounded a bit, light shelf wear, else g/vg condition in torn, worn dust jacket (only in poor/fair cond.). read more
Description: Morrow, c1951, book club edition, hardcover, map end papers, ; Pages bright, a solid copy, VERY GOOD, in colorful GOOD+ dustjacket, in a new clear mylar DJ cover. A nice copy you will be happy to own! read more
Edition: (library edition? )
Binding: Hardbound
Publisher: Wm. Heinemann, London
Date Published: 1951
Description: VERY GOOD+/None. Tight, faded spine, pretty clean, slight tilt. Small w/grey/blue cover w/ dark blue lettering & Ex Libris symbol on front cover. The ultimate author on British airmen! read more
"loved this book - a good story but I see its major value in Connie's spiritual belief and the concept of a life of worship in all your activities.Have used the book in the past in dealing with young people trying to decide on how to live life and set their own standards"
"Actually first published in 1951 - one in a fairly long line of excellent adventure stories by Nevil Shute, whose work was wildly popular mid-twentieth century. Some were filmed - though not this one, I think. It's about an aviation mechanic who forms a charter business in the East, and how his head mechanic becomes a revered religious figure."
"I confess I don't know how Nevil Shute does it. This novel, written about 1951, purports to be the autobiography of an airline entrepreneur after WWII. He starts in England with a single small plane and gradually builds an airfreight empire centered in Bahrain. He has no interests other than his business, and he achieves success by pluck, unremitting hard work, sinking every penny back into the business, and hiring the best people as mechanics, engineers, and pilots, even if they aren't white Europeans. His narrative is plain, spare, un-ironic, and toneless. First this happened, then this. It sails very close to boring. His philosophy seems to be "Forget prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude; the real virtues are competence, practicality, honesty, and once somebody has demonstrated those, open-mindedness towards his possibly strange and foreign way of life." The real subject of the story emerges only very slowly and with increasing fascination--it is that his oldest friend and chief engineer seems to be some kind of religious nut who has gone "round the bend." He preaches a kind of mindful work ethic to his co-workers. "Good work and right thinking are as one." Do your job carefully and with respect. Done that way, it will be God's work. His presence and charisma are apparently irresistible. Slowly he begins to attract followers and his reputation grows. He attracts Muslims in the Mideast, Hindus in India, and Buddhists in the far East. The narrator (his friend and boss) is only slightly aware of all this, but he is happy to let it go on--he has a supremely expert workforce and marvelously well-maintained planes as a result. What's not to like? But gradually political and other tensions grow. Finally his friend is diagnosed with leukemia and dies the calm death of a holy man, worshiped by many thousands. Gradually the book has completely shifted from its apparent subject. The narrator can't quite believe in his friend's holiness, but even he in his skepticism has been moved. Near the end he admits with typical simplicity, "I don't think about things in quite the way I used to." And neither does the reader."
"This is a mesmerizing tale of East meets West. This is the second time I've read this book and I realized during this reading what a fantastic story-teller Mr. Shute was. I highly, highly recommend this book."
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