The Wrong Side of the Sky

The Wrong Side of the Sky is the debut novel by English author Gavin Lyall, first published in 1961. It is written in the first person narrative.

The Wrong Side of the Sky
First edition
AuthorGavin Lyall
Cover artistGavin Lyall[1]
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
GenreThriller novel
PublisherHodder & Stoughton
Publication date
1961
Media typePrint
Pages252
OCLC59149331
Followed byThe Most Dangerous Game 

Plot introduction

Jack Clay, an ex-Royal Air Force military transport makes a threadbare living flying charter cargo flights of dubious legitimacy around the Mediterranean and other parts of Europe in an old Douglas DC-3. His dreams of having his own aeroplane and own charter company are rapidly fading due to age and lack of money, but at least he is flying. While in Athens, Greece he has a chance encounter with an old wartime friend and rival pilot, Ken Kitson, when the latter lands in a luxurious private Piaggio P.166.

Kitson is personal pilot to the immensely wealthy former-Nawab of Tungabhadra in Pakistan, who is searching the world for his family's heirloom jewels that had been stolen by a British charter pilot during the Partition of India. However, the Nawab is not the only one looking for the missing jewels, and is not the only one who would cheat, steal or murder to find them first.

Literary significance & criticism

Although Lyall's debut novel, it was an immediate success; P.G. Wodehouse singled it out for special praise:“Terrific: when better novels of suspense are written, lead me to them.”[2]

Notes
  1. Existential Ennui: Beautiful British Book Jacket Design of the 1950s and 1960s
  2. Guardian obituary, infra.


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