Best 1947 Adventures (5)
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June 9, 2017
One in a series of 10 posts identifying Josh Glenn’s favorite 1947 adventure novels. Happy 70th anniversary!
Victor Canning’s hunted-man adventure The Chasm.
Canning’s first post-war novel is a bridge between his 1930s novels and the political thrillers he was known for during the 1950s–1970s; that is, it begins slowly: a story about Burgess , a shell-shocked British officer attempting to get his act back together in Florence, and a romance that blooms between him and a young woman he meets when a collapsed bridge traps him in her remote mountain village. The village’s one wealthy resident, though a beloved figure to the locals, is someone Burgess recognizes from before the war — a Nazi collaborator wanted for treason! The tension mounts slowly, a game of cat-and-mouse; and the plot culminates in a violence-charged flight across the “chasm” separating the town from the outside world.
Fun fact: During the war, Canning was close friends with another thriller writer, fellow RA officer Eric Ambler.
Let me know if I’ve missed any 1947 adventures that you particularly admire.