Identification points are listed only where two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 29 Oct 2026.
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The novel was first published by Random House, New York, in 1978. The first British edition is not the Methuen issue of 1986 but a Futura Publications edition, London, 1980, ISBN 0 7088 1852 8, which the national bibliography gives as 384 pages. The British Library and Open Library records for the Methuen edition (London, 1986, ISBN 0 413 42040 X) both note the earlier London publication by Futura in 1980. A Minerva paperback followed in 1990. A copy with the Futura imprint dated 1980 is the first UK edition.
We have not yet confirmed the issue points that tell this first impression from later ones. Until we do, compare your copy's title page and copyright page with the publisher, place and year above: any later printing or edition statement means it is not this one.
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Futura Publications, London, in 1980, in paperback.
Points of issue are listed only where at least two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 29 October 2026. Reviewed by Harriet Ellis; read how we check facts.
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