Wonder Hero
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: No dust jacket - cloth/board in good condition
Pages: Tanning and foxing
In the glittering yet hollow world of manufactured celebrity, Wonder Hero strips bare the machinery of fame with the incisive wit that made J. B. Priestley one of England's most astute social commentators. The novel chronicles the story of Tommy Hoylake, an ordinary working-class young man who is thrust overnight into the blinding spotlight of public adulation after a chance act of bravery, only to find that the nation's worship is as fickle and treacherous as it is intoxicating. Set against the vivid backdrop of 1930s Britain, Priestley constructs a sharp satirical portrait of the press, the public, and the dangerous hunger for heroes in the modern age. Priestley writes with a warm but unsparing eye, balancing genuine sympathy for his protagonist with a savage indictment of a society that builds idols only to smash them. Wonder Hero stands as a remarkably prescient work — its themes of media manipulation, working-class aspiration, and the commodification of the human spirit feel as urgent today as when it was first published. Readers who enjoy their social comedy seasoned with genuine moral intelligence will find this novel impossible to put down, and its final reckoning with the true cost of fame lingers long after the last page is turned.
Author: J. B. Priestley
Format: Hardback
Genre: Modern fiction
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: No dust jacket - cloth/board in good condition
Pages: Tanning and foxing
In the glittering yet hollow world of manufactured celebrity, Wonder Hero strips bare the machinery of fame with the incisive wit that made J. B. Priestley one of England's most astute social commentators. The novel chronicles the story of Tommy Hoylake, an ordinary working-class young man who is thrust overnight into the blinding spotlight of public adulation after a chance act of bravery, only to find that the nation's worship is as fickle and treacherous as it is intoxicating. Set against the vivid backdrop of 1930s Britain, Priestley constructs a sharp satirical portrait of the press, the public, and the dangerous hunger for heroes in the modern age. Priestley writes with a warm but unsparing eye, balancing genuine sympathy for his protagonist with a savage indictment of a society that builds idols only to smash them. Wonder Hero stands as a remarkably prescient work — its themes of media manipulation, working-class aspiration, and the commodification of the human spirit feel as urgent today as when it was first published. Readers who enjoy their social comedy seasoned with genuine moral intelligence will find this novel impossible to put down, and its final reckoning with the true cost of fame lingers long after the last page is turned.