This is an auction for SMALL CRIMES IN AN AGE OF ABUNDANCE by Matthew Kneale.

"Kneale, author of the Whitbread-winning English Passengers, reaches all over the world for these 12 tales. Kneale shows how the peoples of the world, though inevitably interrelated, often remain sorely ignorant of (or indifferent to) each other. He drops his characters into faraway lands, exposing them to foreign cultures and thereby forcing them to examine their own ways of life. Sometimes the comparison brings horror, as in "Stone," in which a well-meaning English family traveling through China run into the harsh laws of a small town. Kneale saves his best for last. "White" follows a Palestinian suicide bomber as he makes his way toward Tel Aviv, an explosive device strapped to his chest, his mind racing with doubt. This final, highly charged story leaves a lasting impression."

• Publishers Weekly (US)

Amazon.com review:

"FIVE STARS!! A well-intentioned English family unwittingly becomes complicit in state violence while traveling through China. A ploddingly respectable London lawyer chances upon a stash of cocaine and realizes it offers the wealth and status he's always hungered for. A salesman in Africa gets caught up in a riot, and a Palestinian suicide bomber has a moment of self-doubt. Kneale transports readers across continents in a nanosecond, reaching to the heart of faraway societies with rare perceptiveness. With wry humour and razor-sharp satire, these twelve thought-provoking stories illuminate the moral uncertainty of our time."

More very favourable reviews on Amazon.com.

Paperback 2003.

277 pages.

Very good/near new condition.

The cost of shipping is $5.95.

There is of course no charge for shipping if you collect this book from my shop in Palmerston North following the auction.

Payment within seven days, please.