{"product_id":"2026100008974-secondhand-the-young-desire-it-signed","title":"The Young Desire It (SIGNED)","description":"\u003cp\u003eEdition: First Edition\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition remarks:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBook: Good\u003cbr\u003eJacket: Chipped and worn with some minor damage\u003cbr\u003ePages: Good\u003cbr\u003eMarkings: Signed with inscription\u003cbr\u003eCondition remarks: DJ: chipped and worn spine, unclipped, in mylar. Binding: Slight lean to book, no loose pages. Boards: Moderate soiling; light bumping on corners and spine. Pages: Yellowed, light stains on the book block. Markings: Inscribed by the author on the half-title page; small bookseller sticker on the fep. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA masterwork of Australian literature, The Young Desire It by Seaforth Mackenzie immerses the reader in the cloistered world of a boys' boarding school in Western Australia, where a sensitive and gifted adolescent named Charles Fox grapples with the awakening of his intellect, his emotions, and his sense of self against the rigid structures of institutional life. First published in 1937, this coming-of-age novel chronicles Charles's transformative encounters — with a girl glimpsed across a fence, with the brutalities of schoolyard hierarchies, and with the intoxicating beauty of the natural world — rendered in prose of extraordinary lyrical intensity.\n\nMackenzie writes with a painterly precision and an almost musical sensitivity, drawing comparisons to D.H. Lawrence in his unflinching examination of adolescent desire, identity, and the conflict between wild inner life and social conformity. The novel's vivid evocation of the Australian landscape serves as both backdrop and mirror to its protagonist's interior journey, elevating the work far beyond a simple school story into a profound meditation on what it means to be young, alive, and reaching toward an undefined future. Winner of the inaugural Miles Franklin Literary Award's predecessor prize, this is a lost classic that rewards any reader bold enough to seek it out.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Secondhand Stock","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49309665722587,"sku":"2026100008974-SECONDHAND","price":2200.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0523\/7646\/9701\/files\/5f1d648b-39e7-4474-88ba-56e4fde228f3.png?v=1789454802","url":"https:\/\/bookgrocer.com\/products\/2026100008974-secondhand-the-young-desire-it-signed","provider":"Book Grocer","version":"1.0","type":"link"}