The Ivory Swing

The Ivory Swing by Janette Turner Hospital, published in Toronto by McClelland and Stewart in 1982. This Canadian first edition is a hardcover in its original dust jacket. Hospital’s debut novel follows a Canadian academic family in South India, exploring marriage, personal freedom, social expectations, and the tensions created when cultures and private lives collide.

The novel won the Seal First Novel Award, an important early recognition that launched Hospital’s career. Contemporary accounts describe its setting as grounded in the author’s experience living in India, while emphasizing the story’s personal and cross-cultural conflicts.

This copy is personally inscribed to Alex Smith with a warm presentation message, signed in full by Janette Turner Hospital, and dated September 29, 1982. It also has a provenance bookplate from the Writers’ Development Trust’s Night of One Hundred Authors, held on that same date, giving the copy a direct connection to a documented Canadian literary event.

Overall Very Good. The dust jacket has a very short tear at the top front edge, confined to the jacket with no corresponding damage to the hardcover, along with light edge and corner wear. The copy is otherwise Very Good, and the dust jacket is now protected in a removable clear plastic cover.