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    3. For Want of a Nail

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    For Want of a Nail: The acclaimed debut novel of one of the country's most beloved cultural figures

    Melvyn Bragg

    Formats & Editions

    Growing up in an isolated cottage in the hills of Cumberland, Tom knows the bitter cold of shooting expeditions with his grandfather and long evenings spent with his father and mother. But taken away from the hills to live in the small town of Thornton, Tom experiences a tumult of conflicting emotions which he must master before he can come to terms with his identity.

    First published in 1965, FOR WANT OF A NAIL was acclaimed as the debut of a distinctive and talented new writer.

    More books by Melvyn Bragg
    Another World
    Melvyn Bragg
    Another World
    The Hired Man
    Melvyn Bragg
    The Hired Man
    Kingdom Come
    Melvyn Bragg
    Kingdom Come
    A Place in England
    Melvyn Bragg
    A Place in England
    Back in the Day
    Melvyn Bragg
    Back in the Day
    The Second Inheritance
    Melvyn Bragg
    The Second Inheritance
    Josh Lawton
    Melvyn Bragg
    Josh Lawton
    A Love Letter to Europe
    Frank Cottrell Boyce, William Dalrymple, Margaret Drabble, Simon Callow
    A Love Letter to Europe
    Love Without End
    Melvyn Bragg
    Love Without End
    Now is the Time
    Melvyn Bragg
    Now is the Time
    Grace and Mary
    Melvyn Bragg
    Grace and Mary
    The Maid of Buttermere
    Melvyn Bragg
    The Maid of Buttermere

    Praise for For Want of a Nail

    • The impression is one of striking individuality - the sort of originality an author achieves when he has really meditated hard about his characters, loved them, watched them, and let them grow - Sunday Telegraph

    • A novel well worth returning to...a vivid and totally original imagination...tableau after tableau is spotlit into brilliant life - Scotsman

    • A very good novel...sparkles with a keen awareness of both local landscape and character - Cumberland Evening News

    • Fine, tense writing derived not from books but from passionate observation of particular landscapes and people - Spectator

    Melvyn Bragg

    Melvyn Bragg

    Melvyn Bragg's first novel, FOR WANT OF A NAIL, was published in 1965 and since then his novels have included THE HIRED MAN, for which he won the Time/Life Silver Pen Award, WITHOUT A CITY WALL, winner of the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, THE SOLDIER'S RETURN, which won the WHSmith Literary Award, and A SON OF WAR and CROSSING THE LINES, both of which were longlisted for the Booker Prize, and his most recent novel REMEMBER ME... He has also written several works of non-fiction including THE ADVENTURE OF ENGLISH and 12 BOOKS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD.

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