52 1958 British novels

The Accounting is a 1958 novel by Scottish writer Bruce Marshall, published as The Bank Audit in the UK.

B-Berry and I Look Back is the second volume of fictionalised memoirs of the English author Dornford Yates, published in 1958 and featuring his recurring 'Berry' characters - Berry, Daphne, Boy, Jill and Jonah. The first volume, As Berry and I Were Saying, had been published in 1952. It was his last book.

Balthazar, published in 1958, is the second volume in The Alexandria Quartet series by British author Lawrence Durrell. Set in Alexandria, Egypt around World War II, the four novels tell essentially the same story from different points of view and come to a conclusion in Clea. Balthazar is the first novel in the series that presents a competing narrator, Balthazar, who writes back to the narrating Darley in his "great interlinear."

The Bell is a novel by Iris Murdoch. Published in 1958, it was her fourth novel. It is set in a lay religious community situated next to an enclosed order of Benedictine nuns in Gloucestershire.

The Candle in the Wind is a fantasy novel by British writer T. H. White, the fourth book in the series The Once and Future King. Written in 1940, it was first published in 1958 in the collected edition. It deals with the last weeks of Arthur's reign, his dealings with his son Mordred's revolts, Guenever and Lancelot's demise, and his perception of right and wrong.

Cocktail Time is a comic novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom on 20 June 1958 by Herbert Jenkins, London and in the United States on 24 July 1958 by Simon & Schuster, Inc., New York. A condensed version of the story was originally published in the Ladies' Home Journal (US) in one issue in April 1958. It is the third novel to feature Frederick Twistleton, Earl of Ickenham, better known as Uncle Fred.

The Conscience of the Rich is the seventh published of C. P. Snow's series of novels Strangers and Brothers, but the third according to the internal chronology. It details the lives of Charles, Katherine and their father, Leonard March, a wealthy Jewish family. Lewis Eliot narrates the story of the conflicting politics of wealth and pre-World War II socialism in England.

Craig of the Welsh Hills is a novel written by Roy Saunders in 1958. It was first published in London by Oldbourne Press. The novel follows the adventures of Craig, a champion border collie herding dog, who escapes into the Welsh hills following a car accident and becomes a sheep-killer and the efforts of his owner to recapture him.

The Cronin Omnibus is a single volume of three A. J. Cronin novels: Hatter's Castle, The Citadel, and The Keys of the Kingdom. It was first published in 1958 by Gollancz.

The Darling Buds of May is a novella by British writer H. E. Bates published in 1958. It was the first of a series of five books about the Larkins, a rural family from Kent. Pop and Ma Larkin and their many children take joy in nature, each other's company, and almost constant feasts. Their only income is through selling scrap, picking strawberries, and selling farm animals or previous purchases that they've tired of. Nevertheless, they joyfully spend money on horses, cars, perfume, fine furniture, and holidays abroad. Pop Larkin opposes taxes and any barriers to free enterprise.

The Domes of Pico is a juvenile science fiction novel, the second in Hugh Walters' Chris Godfrey of U.N.E.X.A. series. It was published in the UK by Faber in 1958, in the US by Criterion Books in 1959 under the title Menace from the Moon and in the Netherlands by Prisma Juniores as 'De Maan Valt Aan' in 1960.

Dr. No is the sixth novel by the English author Ian Fleming to feature his British Secret Service agent James Bond. Fleming wrote the novel in early 1957 at his Goldeneye estate in Jamaica. It was first published in the United Kingdom by Jonathan Cape on 31 March 1958. The novel centres on Bond's investigation into the disappearance in Jamaica of two fellow MI6 operatives. He establishes that they had been investigating Doctor No, a Chinese operator of a guano mine on the fictional Caribbean island of Crab Key. Bond travels to the island and meets Honeychile Rider and later Doctor No.

Five Get into a Fix is a children's novel written by Enid Blyton and published by Hodder and Stoughton in 1958. It is the seventeenth book in the Famous Five series.

A Glass of Blessings is a novel by Barbara Pym, first published in 1958. It deals with the growing estrangement of a well-to-do married couple and the means by which harmony is restored.

Hide My Eyes is a crime novel by Margery Allingham, first published in 1958, in the United Kingdom by Chatto & Windus, London. It was published in the U.S. under the titles Tether's End or Ten Were Missing. It is the sixteenth novel in the Albert Campion series.

Hornblower in the West Indies, or alternately Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies, is one of the novels in the series that C. S. Forester wrote about fictional Royal Navy officer Horatio Hornblower.

I Left My Grandfather's House is an uncompleted autobiographical novel by the English author and painter Denton Welch.

I Like It Here is a novel by the English writer Kingsley Amis, first published in 1958 by Victor Gollancz.

I Thank a Fool is a 1958 novel by the British writer Audrey Erskine Lindop. In the United States it was published by Doubleday under the alternative title of Mist over Talla.

The Kidnapping of Kensington is a children's novel by Richard Hough under the pen name of Bruce Carter. It was first published by Hamish Hamilton in 1958 and illustrated by C. Walter Hodges. The novel has also been published under the title The Children Who Stayed Behind.

The King Must Die is a 1958 bildungsroman and historical novel by Mary Renault that traces the early life and adventures of Theseus, a hero in Greek mythology. Naturally, it is set in Ancient Greece: Troizen, Corinth, Eleusis, Athens, Knossos in Crete, and Naxos. Rather than retelling the myth, Renault constructs an archaeologically and anthropologically plausible story that might have developed into the myth. She captures the essentials while removing the more fantastical elements, such as monsters and the appearances of gods. The King Must Die was lauded by critics, with New York Times reviewer Orville Prescott calling it "one of the truly fine historical novels of modern times." Renault wrote a sequel, The Bull from the Sea, in 1962.

The Land God Gave to Cain is a 1958 thriller novel by the British writer Hammond Innes. It was released in the United States by the publishers Knopf. After a plane crash in a remote part of Labrador, a British pilot heads out to investigate based on some radio messages his father has overheard.

The League of Gentlemen (1958) is a pulp-fiction novel by English author John Boland. The novel was made into the film The League of Gentlemen, which was released in 1960 and became the year's most successful British film.

Eleanor Alice Hibbert was an English author who combined imagination with facts to bring history alive through novels of fiction and romance. She was a prolific writer who published several books a year in different literary genres, each genre under a different pen name: Jean Plaidy for fictionalized history of European royalty; Victoria Holt for gothic romances, and Philippa Carr for a multi-generational family saga. A literary split personality, she also wrote light romances, crime novels, murder mysteries and thrillers under the various pseudonyms Eleanor Burford, Elbur Ford, Kathleen Kellow, Anna Percival, and Ellalice Tate.

Marianne Dreams is a children's fantasy novel by Catherine Storr. It was illustrated with drawings by Marjorie-Ann Watts and published by Faber and Faber in 1958. The first paperback edition, from Puffin Books in 1964, is catalogued by the Library of Congress as revised.

The Mezentian Gate is a fantasy novel by English writer Eric Rücker Eddison, the third in his Zimiamvian Trilogy. It is primarily a history of the rule of the fictional King Mezentius, and his methods of gaining and holding the Three Kingdoms of Fingiswold, Meszria and Rerek in sway.

The Middle Age of Mrs Eliot is a novel by Angus Wilson, first published in 1958. It won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for that year, and has been regularly reprinted ever since.

The Million Cities is a science fiction novel by Scottish writer J. T. McIntosh, published in August 1958 in Satellite Science Fiction in somewhat shorter form, and subsequently in full in both the US and the UK. A second edition was printed in August 1963.

Mountolive, published in 1958, is the third volume in The Alexandria Quartet series by British author Lawrence Durrell. Set in Alexandria, Egypt, around World War II, the four novels tell essentially the same story from different points of view and come to a conclusion in Clea. Mountolive is the only third person narrative in the series, and it is also the most overtly political.

Murder Plan Six is a 1958 thriller novel by the British writer John Bingham. It was released in the United States by Dodd Mead the following year.

Nine Coaches Waiting is a then-contemporary suspense, Gothic Romance novel by Mary Stewart published originally in 1958. The setting is the late 1950s — contemporary to the time of its first publication.

Non-Stop is a 1958 science fiction novel by Brian Aldiss. It was the author's first novel. Originally published by Faber & Faber, it was published in the U.S. by Criterion Books as Starship in 1959. The novel has been frequently republished in the UK and US and translated into French, German, Danish and other languages. The Signet and Avon US paperback editions were also published under the title Starship, but American publishers Carroll & Graf and Overlook Press have used the title Non-Stop.

The Northern Light is a 1958 novel by A. J. Cronin. In the story, The Northern Light is a respected local newspaper which has just resisted a takeover bid from a London conglomerate. The book is about the London company's unsuccessful attempt to ruin the paper by running a sensationalist rival paper.

The Once and Future King is a work by T. H. White based upon the 1485 book Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory. It was first published in 1958. It collects and revises shorter novels published from 1938 to 1940, with much new material.

Ordeal by Innocence is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 3 November 1958 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company the following year. The UK edition retailed at twelve shillings and sixpence (12/6) and the US edition at $2.95.

Our Man In Havana (1958) is a novel set in Cuba by the British author Graham Greene. He makes fun of intelligence services, especially the British MI6, and their willingness to believe reports from their local informants. The book predates the Cuban Missile Crisis, but certain aspects of the plot, notably the role of missile installations, appear to anticipate the events of 1962.

Playback is a novel by Raymond Chandler featuring the private detective Philip Marlowe. It was first published in Britain in July 1958; the US edition followed in October that year. Chandler died the following year; Playback is his last completed novel.

The Rainbow and the Rose is a novel by Nevil Shute. It was first published in England in 1958 by William Heinemann.

Red Alert is a 1958 novel by Peter George about nuclear war. The book was the underlying inspiration for Stanley Kubrick's 1964 film Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. Kubrick's film differs significantly from the novel in that the film is a black comedy.

Lieutenant Commander Nicholas John Turney Monsarrat FRSL RNVR was a British novelist known today for his sea stories, particularly The Cruel Sea (1951) and Three Corvettes (1942–45), but perhaps best known internationally for his novels, The Tribe That Lost Its Head and its sequel, Richer Than All His Tribe.

A Ripple from the Storm (1958) is the third novel in British Nobel Prize in Literature-winner Doris Lessing five volume, semi-autobiographical, series, Children of Violence. The first volume is Martha Quest (1952), and the others are, A Proper Marriage (1954), Landlocked (1965), and The Four-Gated City (1969). The Children of Violence series, follows the life of protagonist Martha Quest "from girlhood to middle age".

A Room in Chelsea Square is a 1958 British gay novel by Michael Nelson, originally published anonymously due to its homosexual content and "thinly veiled portrayals of prominent London literary figures." It is about a wealthy gentleman who lures an attractive younger man to London with the promise of an upper crust lifestyle.

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning is the first novel by British author Alan Sillitoe and won the Author's Club First Novel Award.

The Sleeping Mountain is an adventure novel by English author John Harris.

South by Java Head is the third novel written by Scottish author Alistair MacLean, and was first published in 1958.

The Suffrage of Elvira is a comic novel by V. S. Naipaul set in colonial Trinidad. It was written in 1957, and was published in London the following year. It is a satire of the democratic process and the consequences of political change, published a few years before Trinidad and Tobago achieved independence in 1962.

Things Fall Apart is the debut novel by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe, first published in 1958. Its story chronicles pre-colonial life in the southeastern part of Nigeria and the arrival of Europeans during the late 19th century. It is seen as the archetypal modern African novel in English, and one of the first to receive global critical acclaim. It is a staple book in schools throughout Africa and is widely read and studied in English-speaking countries around the world. The novel was first published in the UK in 1962 by William Heinemann Ltd., and became the first work published in Heinemann's African Writers Series.

The Toff on the Farm is a 1958 mystery novel by John Creasey featuring his character the Honourable Richard Rollison, aka 'The Toff'.

Tom's Midnight Garden is a children's fantasy novel by Philippa Pearce. It was first published in 1958 by Oxford with illustrations by Susan Einzig. It has been reissued in print many times and also adapted for radio, television, the cinema, and the stage. Pearce won the annual Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's outstanding children's book by a British subject. In 2007, for a celebration of the Carnegie Medal's 70th anniversary, a panel named Tom's Midnight Garden one of the top ten Medal-winning works and the British public elected it the nation's second-favourite.

A Toy Epic is a novel by Welsh author Emyr Humphreys. It was first published in 1958. The novel follows the story of three boys as they grow up in 'one of the four corners of Wales', crossing paths until they eventually become good friends. Humphreys first started writing the book in 1945, thirteen years before it was published. The book has been described by critics as a "shining example of literary modernism".

Venetia is a Regency romance novel by Georgette Heyer set in England in 1818.

Warrior Scarlet is an historical adventure novel for children by Rosemary Sutcliff, illustrated by Charles Keeping and first published in 1958. It is her only novel set in Bronze Age Britain, approximately 900 BCE, and takes place in and around the South Downs in England.