The Blind Spot by Joy Packer

The Blind Spot

by Joy Packer

Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1967, [First Edition], hardcover, dustjacket

Very Good Condition, minor edge and shelf wear, previous owners’ gift inscription to inside front cover, price-clipped dustjacket in very good condition with a little rubbing and bumping to edges and corners, a little chipping and minor tears (see photographs)

“Claire Hammond, daughter of Judge Hammond, was coached in her holidays by Vale Rorke, a university student; but when Vale married Claire’s father – still handsome and active though twenty-five years older – their friendship inevitably cooled.
Not only does Claire feel that Vale has replaced her in her father’s affections, but she is jealously aware that Jef Broome, an American journalist for whom she herself has fallen with all the abandon of a first infatuation, is also attracted to Vale.  Her suspicions are confirmed when she and Guy Steele, the Judge’s registrar, find a letter form Jef addressed to Vale, the torn envelope revealing the words ‘honey love, if only you were free’.
From then on battle is joined between Vale and Claire.  Their conflict dominates the book, for at the same time the two girls are struggling with conflicting forces within themselves.  Claire, impulsive and vulnerable, is only beginning to distinguish between the illusion of romantic dreams and the reality of friendship and love, but Vale is torn by deeper and more complex emotions, which threaten to destroy her home and her family.
A tragic accident forces her to make a decision that eventually brings catastrophe in its wake.
The Blind Spot is set in the beautiful Cape Peninsula, among the places and people that Joy Parker knows and describes so affectionately and so well.”