The Wells of St Mary's
Published on 3. May 2012
232 pages
978-1-4472-2104-3 (ISBN)
Description
From the writer of Journey's End, now a major motion picture starring Paul Bettany, Sam Claflin and Asa Butterfield.
The trouble began when Lord Colindale, millionaire newspaper-owner and 'strong man' of British politics, came down for a week-end to Colonel Joyce's country house. For a year Colindale had been forced out of public life by crippling rheumatism which neither the specialists nor the watering-places of Europe had been able to alleviate. By chance they had visited the Wells of St Mary's , once famed for their cures, now derelict on Joyce's land. At Henry Hodder's insistence Lord Colindale had drunk the flat, metallic water.
When it was announced in the newspapers that Colindale had been cured by the waters and Colonel Joyce had given the well to the town, there was no limit to the exploitation which the people, under Jim Blundell the mayor, could envisage. But Henry, who had come to regard the well as his own, knew the secret of its healing power. All set to put money in his purse, he waited until the Casino was half-built before demanding his share of the profits - as the price of silence.
The trouble began when Lord Colindale, millionaire newspaper-owner and 'strong man' of British politics, came down for a week-end to Colonel Joyce's country house. For a year Colindale had been forced out of public life by crippling rheumatism which neither the specialists nor the watering-places of Europe had been able to alleviate. By chance they had visited the Wells of St Mary's , once famed for their cures, now derelict on Joyce's land. At Henry Hodder's insistence Lord Colindale had drunk the flat, metallic water.
When it was announced in the newspapers that Colindale had been cured by the waters and Colonel Joyce had given the well to the town, there was no limit to the exploitation which the people, under Jim Blundell the mayor, could envisage. But Henry, who had come to regard the well as his own, knew the secret of its healing power. All set to put money in his purse, he waited until the Casino was half-built before demanding his share of the profits - as the price of silence.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Pan Macmillan
Target group
Interest Age: From 18 years
File size
0,41 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-4472-2104-3 (9781447221043)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
R. C. Sherriff
The Wells of St Mary's
Book
05/2012
Macmillan Bello
€43.51
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Person
On his return from the First World War, R C Sherriff settled in London, working as an insurance agent and writing plays in the evening. Journey's End, inspired by Sherriff's own experience of fighting, was his sixth play but the first to be given a professional production. It was an immediate, outstanding and phenomenal success. Thirty one separate productions ran concurrently around the world and it was translated into twenty six languages. Its success, however, was both a boon and a burden - while it allowed him to give up the day job and devote himself full-time to writing, it often overshadowed his later work or was used as the yardstick against which it was measured unfavourably.
Fortunately for Sherriff he was not only a playwright but also a novelist and a screenwriter. He wrote a best-selling novel, A Fortnight In September in 1931, and the screenplays for The Invisible Man (1933), The Four Feathers (1939) and classic films such as Goodbye Mr Chips (1939), for which he received an Oscar nomination, and The Dambusters (1955).
Although Sherriff was occupied as a playwright and screenwriter he did not lose his urge to write novels and he followed the success of his first novel with The Hopkins Manuscript, Chedworth, Another Year and others. Now, while Journey's End continues to define Sherriff's reputation, much of his work remains ripe for rediscovery.
Fortunately for Sherriff he was not only a playwright but also a novelist and a screenwriter. He wrote a best-selling novel, A Fortnight In September in 1931, and the screenplays for The Invisible Man (1933), The Four Feathers (1939) and classic films such as Goodbye Mr Chips (1939), for which he received an Oscar nomination, and The Dambusters (1955).
Although Sherriff was occupied as a playwright and screenwriter he did not lose his urge to write novels and he followed the success of his first novel with The Hopkins Manuscript, Chedworth, Another Year and others. Now, while Journey's End continues to define Sherriff's reputation, much of his work remains ripe for rediscovery.
