The Dark Tower

Phyllis Bottome -- pen name and maiden name for Phyllis Forbes-Dennis -- made her living teaching at a school she and her husband founded in Kitzb hel, in Austria. She had some success there -- Ian Fleming, the man who became famous writing James Bond novels, was one of her students. She wrote, too -- with considerable success, selling three books ("Private Worlds, " "The Mortal Storm, " and "Danger Signal") to the movies. But we're republishing her because we like the way she could turn a phrase. Seriously, listen to the start of the tale you hold in hand: "Winn Staines respected God, the royal family, and his regiment; but even his respect for these three things was in many ways academic: he respected nothing else. "His father, Admiral Sir Peter Staines, had never respected anything; he went to church, however, because his wife didn't. They were that kind of family. "Lady Staines had had twelve children. Seven of them died as promptly as their constitutions allowed. . . ." The woman could "write, " and she had quite a lot to say. In the end, those are the things that matter where it comes to books, aren't they?