{"product_id":"2026200015465-secondhand-dean-spanley-a-novel","title":"Dean Spanley: A Novel","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition remarks:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBook: Good\u003cbr\u003eJacket: N\/A\u003cbr\u003ePages: Good\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhat if a mild-mannered Edwardian clergyman harboured a secret life as a dog in a former incarnation — and a fine Imperial Tokay was all it took to unlock those memories? Dean Spanley is Lord Dunsany's masterful comic novella, set in the drawing rooms and dining tables of early 20th-century England, in which a narrator coaxes the eccentric Dean Spanley into recounting, glassy-eyed and increasingly uninhibited, vivid recollections of chasing rabbits, guarding hearths, and experiencing a loyalty so pure it borders on the divine. The premise is absurdist, the execution impeccable — Dunsany sustains the conceit with a perfectly deadpan wit that never overplays its hand, leaving the reader both charmed and, unexpectedly, moved.\n\nBeneath its genial, comic surface, the novel presents a quietly profound meditation on memory, mortality, and the bond between humans and their animals — themes that resonate with a tenderness Dunsany conceals beneath layers of irony and restraint. His prose is elegant and spare, belonging to that great Anglo-Irish tradition of fabulist storytelling that counts Swift and Wilde among its forebears. This edition also includes the screenplay adaptation by Alan Sharp, offering readers a rare and fascinating glimpse into how Dunsany's singular vision was translated for the screen. Whether encountered as satire, as fantasy, or as a surprisingly affecting elegy for companionship, Dean Spanley rewards every reader who wonders what their dog might say, if only it could speak.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Secondhand Stock","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49203211567323,"sku":"2026200015465-SECONDHAND","price":15.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0523\/7646\/9701\/files\/5061b1b8-fcbc-4c4a-afda-660765fdb4ec.png?v=1788145861","url":"https:\/\/bookgrocer.com\/products\/2026200015465-secondhand-dean-spanley-a-novel","provider":"Book Grocer","version":"1.0","type":"link"}