New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1948. Hardcover first edition - Uncommon post-apocalyptic novel set in the near future and "focussing on a few people brought into unnatural intimacy after an atomic bomb has been dropped on New York. Each of the characters is intended to be symbolic of forces let loose in the world by atomic fission. A highly intellectual, articulate couple, with a child, are happily secluded in a rural community. Upon them descend refugees from the bomb, the husband's vengeful first wife, their twin children, and her opportunistic consort. The second wife, fearing for their happiness, denies them refuge, but the idealistic husband insists that their terror can only be dispelled by facing the threat to their happiness. Death, destruction, misery result - the couple are left with a mild courage to face trouble together and go on." (Kirkus) In addition to being a novelist, journalist and historian, Waldo Frank had been a radical activist during the Depression, although he broke with the Communist Party in 1937. He was for a while a close friend of the Harlem Renaissance writer Jean Toomer and helped edit his novel 'Cane' but he is best known for his works on Latin America, where he was a very influential figure. 259 pp.