The Lifeline

First edition, first impression. 398pp. Red cloth covered boards, gilt titles on spine. 12mo. Cloth is marked and shelf worn, rubbed and rounded around corners and spine ends, with minor indentation at the base of the spine.  Hint of toning to pages; gutter strained ahead of title page else neat, clean and tight. A now hard-to-find spy thriller set in Nazi-occupied Austria.  Phyllis Bottome, an English novelist and short story writer, ran a pioneering school in Litzbuhel in Austria whose pupils included Ian Fleming of James Bond fame. (Fleming later wrote to Bottome stating, 'My life with you is one of my most cherished memories").