Shadows of Ecstasy
by: Charles Williams

Hardcover. NY, Pellegrini & Cudahy, 1st US, 1950, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, blue cloth with gilt lettering, 260 pages. Originally entitled ADEPTS OF AFRICA, SHADOWS OF ECSTACY, which was written in seven weeks in 1925, was the first novel Williams wrote but the fifth to be published in 1933. Follows the story of Nigel Constantine, an evangelical preacher who discovers the ability to cheat death. The charismatic occult leader stirs up an African revolt against Western Europe, with predictably devastating results. An unusual work on the occult and spiritualism, dealing with themes of colonialism, power, and global politics. Charles Williams, 1886-1945, was an English writer and theologian. He was a friend of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, and was a member of their informal Oxford literary group, the Inklings. Clean copy, no dust jacket.