From the Terrace: A Novel by John O'Hara. Hardback. 1st Edition. Random House. New York, 1958.

Description:

"Alfred Eaton is the second Samuel Eaton, of Eaton Iron & Steel, and of Martha Johnson Eaton...This novel...is the story of Alfred Eaton through boyhood and prep school, his stay at Princeton (interrupted and terminated by World War I), his career in the early aviation business and in Wall Street, as a sub-Cabinet officer during World War II, and his return to private life. The novel takes him, from the time he leaves Princeton to become a naval officer to London during the First World War, to Long Island and New York City immediately after the war, to Philaelphia and Wilmington, New Orleans and Boston, the Gibbsville of Mr O'Haras Appointment in Samarra and Ten North Fredrick, Washington during the Second World War, and Los Angeles. As in no other American Novel, From the Terrace presents a...detailed, uncompromising picture of the life of an intelligent, attractive, successful man in the first half of the twentieth century: his parents, his early loves, his wife and children, his long affair with he girl he meets in young manhood, his friends and enemies among the men and women of society, business and government. The story is told with candour and compassion, humour and wisdom, and it is, in the author's own words, his best."

"An uncommonly good novel . . . a considerable achievement" - Saturday Review.

With over three million copies sold, O'Hara's great novel of America in the first half of the century was made into an acclaimed film starring Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. It richly chronicles one man's rise to wealth, power, and prominence - and the haunting sense of failure at his heart. "More than any other American novelist, O'Hara has both reflected his times and captured the uniquely individual" - Los Angeles Times.

Condition: Hardback, navy boards with gold writing. Some small tears to dustjacket. Front board coming away from inner pages but still well attached to the rest of the cover. Very clean inside.