Author | Jon Cleary |
---|---|
Language | English |
Genre | Novel |
Publisher | Collins |
Publication date | 1957 |
Publication place | Australia |
Media type | |
Pages | 266 pp. |
Preceded by | Justin Bayard |
Followed by | Back of Sunset |
The Green Helmet is a 1957 novel by the Australian author Jon Cleary. [1] It was the author's eighth novel.
Brothers Ham and Taz Rafferty are professional race car drivers whose father was killed during the Mille Miglia, a 1000-mile endurance race through Italy. The boys' mother extracts a promise from Taz that he will allow Ham to drive while he bides his time. But tension builds between the two when Ham refuses to retire after a near-disaster. An American tire manufacturer contracts Ham to race on his tires and a romance ensues between Ham and the American's daughter.
Cleary had written a book about Australian politics, The Mayor's Nest, but his English publisher was worried it would not appeal to an international audience, and suggested a book on motor racing. [2]
Cleary and his wife had lived in Italy for a year and became familiar with the motor races there such as the Mille Miglia. He had not written in six months, so moved to Valencia, a small town in Spain where he rented a villa. He wrote the novel in twenty days at a chapter a day. [3] [4]
After its initial publication in UK by Collins in 1957, [1] it was reprinted as follows:
The book became a best seller on its publication in 1957. Cleary says Reader's Digest paid an advance of 20,000 pounds for their editions. [2]
Kirkus Reviews was not impressed with the work: "Superb suspense in the racing aspects; the romance is contrived and two-dimensional." [7]
A reviewer in The Bulletin found a lot more to like about the author's "swift and clear presentations of scenes in high-class English pubs, New York pent-house apartments, American factories, English country places! Writers with more to say, or less, might well admire the hard-gained discipline of his writing." [8]
The novel was adapted as a film of the same name in 1961, directed by Michael Forlong with a screenplay by Jon Cleary. [9]
Author | Jon Cleary |
---|---|
Language | English |
Genre | Novel |
Publisher | Collins |
Publication date | 1957 |
Publication place | Australia |
Media type | |
Pages | 266 pp. |
Preceded by | Justin Bayard |
Followed by | Back of Sunset |
The Green Helmet is a 1957 novel by the Australian author Jon Cleary. [1] It was the author's eighth novel.
Brothers Ham and Taz Rafferty are professional race car drivers whose father was killed during the Mille Miglia, a 1000-mile endurance race through Italy. The boys' mother extracts a promise from Taz that he will allow Ham to drive while he bides his time. But tension builds between the two when Ham refuses to retire after a near-disaster. An American tire manufacturer contracts Ham to race on his tires and a romance ensues between Ham and the American's daughter.
Cleary had written a book about Australian politics, The Mayor's Nest, but his English publisher was worried it would not appeal to an international audience, and suggested a book on motor racing. [2]
Cleary and his wife had lived in Italy for a year and became familiar with the motor races there such as the Mille Miglia. He had not written in six months, so moved to Valencia, a small town in Spain where he rented a villa. He wrote the novel in twenty days at a chapter a day. [3] [4]
After its initial publication in UK by Collins in 1957, [1] it was reprinted as follows:
The book became a best seller on its publication in 1957. Cleary says Reader's Digest paid an advance of 20,000 pounds for their editions. [2]
Kirkus Reviews was not impressed with the work: "Superb suspense in the racing aspects; the romance is contrived and two-dimensional." [7]
A reviewer in The Bulletin found a lot more to like about the author's "swift and clear presentations of scenes in high-class English pubs, New York pent-house apartments, American factories, English country places! Writers with more to say, or less, might well admire the hard-gained discipline of his writing." [8]
The novel was adapted as a film of the same name in 1961, directed by Michael Forlong with a screenplay by Jon Cleary. [9]