Best seller set near Chch

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33779, 27 February 1975, Page 18

Best seller set near Chch

A novel set against; the background of an| avalanche in the South-' iern Alps of the South metropolitan councils by from Christchurch, and which features a gripping court drama in the city, is a best seller in Britain at the moment. Sir William Collins, chairman of the British publishing house which bears his name, said in Christchurch; yesterday that the book, “Thel Snow Tiger,” by Desmond Bagley, was released in England in January. It is the first time the author has reached the number one position in the best seller list with a new book. Sir William said he expected the book to be available in New Zealand in July. Sir William arrived in i Christchurch yesterday for; |his near customary biennial' i visit to the Dominion to discuss business progress and I prospects with his New Zea-, land representatives and, as I he always does wherever he Igoes, to scout out new writ;ing talent. He has been most impressed with the latest manuscript by the Auckland

;l writer, Michael Joseph, the < J tentative title of which wasj I “An Impulse to Throttle.”: (The story is set against, 1 ' D-Day and the romance of al i soldier and a French girl atp | Normandy. Sir William i ■ believes the author to be the ; .ibest literary “find” in Newi ' Zealand for many years. Because of the book’s im--1 portance it is to be published ■ in London. Yet in spite of having local ; authors such as Ngaio Marsh, ; i, “still the second best crime > i writer anywhere,” and Errol I; Brathwaite, Sir William isr ■ I still waiting for a good I : modem novel set against a{< ; New Zealand farm. The publisher, who has 15 i : Russian authors in his stable, 'said that sales of Solzhenit- ; : syn’s “Gulag Archipelago” I ■ had just exceeded one million i, — 250.000 of them in Australia alone. “Two more I [ Gulags are on the way. One I ■| will be published this year 1 Hand the other next.” 1 A new 600-page book. “The I I Oak and the Calf,” by the' Russian writer, will be pubi lished shortly. It is j i expected to exceed the sales , of the Gulag. Sir William ' explained that the book . ■ described Solzhenitsyn’s! | literary career in the Soviets I Union ending with an account

of his expulsion from Russia.; I The Russian is one of thej I few writers of genius who! jean more or less dictate his I Iterms to a publisher. Already ! ■Collins is having his novel,' I “First Circle,” prepared in a: new translation because 'Solzhenitsyn was not happy with the first British transla-, tion — which was better than the initial American version. Such retranslations: were costly and perhaps only; a writer of Solzhenitsyn’s eminence could demand one. Sir William said Collins! iwere pretty well certain of, being the British publishers iof all Solzhenitsyn’s future: works. On previous visits Sir Wil-i liam has been an enthusiastic promoter of such animal; books as “Born Free” about; the Adamsons and their! lions. But this time it is a book about elephants which has received “fantastic” reviews in Britain. Called “Among the Elephants,” it is a book Sir, William has waited for for six years, “something one often has to do where animal books are concerned,” he said. He believes the main reason for the success of these books is that they are pri-, manly family books. In Australia, before com-,

• ;ing to Christchurch, Sir Wil-j : liam met Dr David Lewis, the! New Zealand-born adventurer! ijwho in 1972 set out from; Sydney in his 32ft steel sloop,; lice Bird, on a planned 17,000, ’ mile circumnavigation of the; j Antarctic. Collins will pub- | lish the story of the voyage? which ultimately had to be abandoned. Asked what was the best 1 seller of all time published Hby his company Sir William said it was Boris Pasternak's! ; “Dr Zhivago.” His best- . selling author remains : Agatha Christie who at 85 is ; still busy writing. ; Contrary to the popular; .view, television had not; [killed readership. “In fact it; often helps,” he said, “for! example at home we sold; more than 100,000 copies of, :l“The World at War” while' /the life of Lady Randolph; Churchill “Jennie” has also! done remarkably well. “While there is a genera! scarcity of good books there' is no need to go in for blue, or pornographic, books. I think today people are getting a bit bored with this. I ; will add that this is not the case in the United States. “Perhaps one reason why we are not getting many really good books is that it. ■is harder for people to settle down to write them in these troublesome and noisy , times.” i