[publisher: Doubleday & Company, Garden City] Hardcover First Edition 313 pages with illustrated title and chapter illustrations by Maginel Wright Barney. Octavo (8 1/2" x 5 3/4") bound in original publisher's pictorial yellow cloth with black lettering to spine and cover in original pictorial jacket. First edition. This treasure of a novel, a Newbery Honor Book, is set on the island of Nantucket just before the War of 1812. Much more than a tale of whaling ships and gentle Quaker eccentricities, it is a tale of friendship-the kind most truly espoused by these 'plain' folk, with all the struggle and complexity one should expect. Dionis "Dencey" Coffyn is a mystery to her mother, Lydia, whose stern exterior hides a heart that breaks every time her husband Captain Tom goes to sea. Within a context of outward simplicity of living and inward intricacy of relationship, Dencey matures from the little girl who, in unquakerly violence of temper, throws a rock that wounds the town outcast. She becomes a young woman ready to bear her part in life with grace and courage. Downright Dencey is a probing portrayal of the power of love to overcome social barriers and religious strictures. Condition: Corners gently bumped. Jacket edge wear with some closed tears, price punch-holed, spine sunned else a very good to fine copy in a better than very good jacket.
[Fort Worth, TX, U.S.A.] [Publication Year: ...
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