99 Pence Pleasure.

I walked into one of the many charity shops in Stamford today and was drawn to this book. Just by it's spine. The synopsis was interesting, about a man who fled from his wealthy dominating wife and life, to "feel the stirrings of a long-submerged desire to paint".....
I opened it up and saw there was a written dedication from what I took to be the author.
It said:

For Archie & Yvette
Who looked after Lilly and me at F--ndrack when this book exploded in the U.S.A
Paul.

August 15, 1959

I then found the book was under the copyright of LillyM.Bonner Trustee.

So this was definitely the author's writing. How did this American book end up in Stamford.

I got home and had a look on Amazon and Google to find out more about this man who I had never heard of.

It seems he was known in the circles of Coward et al. And was from a "sophisticated cosmopolitan background" and held a position in the Sate Department. This title was the one mentioned in the: By the author of The Art of Llewellyn Jones. So it must be one of his best.

I likes the disclaimer too:

The characters in this story are all mine,
not having been fashioned after
any real people, dead or alive.
If a name should match someone's,
it is inadvertent,
being well-nigh impossible to devise a moniker
that has not been wished on some hapless babe.
Take Llewellyn Jones, for example.
Countless Welshmen have undoubtedly
so dubbed their sons because
they found the name typical and lyrical.

So, for 99p I have found what could be a gem, or a dated 1950's novel.
It feels a little special as it was given to Archie & Yvette, who were likely to have been friends by this man, whom I had never heard of until this morning.
I am rather inclined to put aside my latest modern novel and give it a try.