Pavane
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: Chipped and worn with some minor damage
Pages: Tanning and foxing
Markings: No markings
Condition remarks: Covers are in good condition. Binding remains secure and tight. DJ shows wear consistent with age and bears a small inscription on the rear panel. A minor stain is present on the book block, but the interior pages are otherwise clean and sound.
A landmark of British science fiction and alternate history, Pavane unfolds in a richly imagined England where the Protestant Reformation never took root and the Catholic Church reigns supreme over a feudal, steam-powered society centuries behind our own. Keith Roberts chronicles the lives of ordinary men and women — a steam haulier, a signaller, a gunsmith — whose interconnected stories form a haunting mosaic of duty, faith, and quiet rebellion against an iron theocracy. Written with lyrical, almost elegiac prose, the novel presents its counterfactual world not as a backdrop for grand adventure, but as a deeply felt meditation on freedom, determinism, and the slow, grinding weight of history. Roberts illustrates how even the smallest acts of individual will can ripple outward across generations, lending the narrative a melancholy power that lingers long after the final page. Widely regarded as one of the finest alternate history novels ever written, Pavane remains an essential and profoundly moving work of speculative literature.
Author: Keith Roberts
Format: Hardback
Published: 1968, Science Fiction Book Club by arrangement with Rupert Hart-Davis
Genre: Science fiction
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Chipped and worn with some minor damage
Pages: Tanning and foxing
Markings: No markings
Condition remarks: Covers are in good condition. Binding remains secure and tight. DJ shows wear consistent with age and bears a small inscription on the rear panel. A minor stain is present on the book block, but the interior pages are otherwise clean and sound.
A landmark of British science fiction and alternate history, Pavane unfolds in a richly imagined England where the Protestant Reformation never took root and the Catholic Church reigns supreme over a feudal, steam-powered society centuries behind our own. Keith Roberts chronicles the lives of ordinary men and women — a steam haulier, a signaller, a gunsmith — whose interconnected stories form a haunting mosaic of duty, faith, and quiet rebellion against an iron theocracy. Written with lyrical, almost elegiac prose, the novel presents its counterfactual world not as a backdrop for grand adventure, but as a deeply felt meditation on freedom, determinism, and the slow, grinding weight of history. Roberts illustrates how even the smallest acts of individual will can ripple outward across generations, lending the narrative a melancholy power that lingers long after the final page. Widely regarded as one of the finest alternate history novels ever written, Pavane remains an essential and profoundly moving work of speculative literature.