Ludlow author's "masterpiece" reprinted
He's back! And considering he's been dead for 90 years, that's remarkable.
But now Stanley Weyman, described as Ludlow's greatest author who was once as popular as Dickens, Kipling, and Robert Louis Stevenson, is back in print with a reissue of a "forgotten masterpiece" by Ludlow-based Merlin Unwin Books.
Ovington's Bank is set in an imaginary Shrewsbury in 1825 and is a fast-moving tale which touches all the challenges of our times – a banking crisis, old values being displaced by "progress," and how to lead a good life.
Jo Potter of Merlin Unwin Books said: "Ludlow's greatest author was born and wrote from his home at 54 Broad Street, which is now the Conservative Office.
"Today Stanley Weyman's novels are almost forgotten. No longer. We have just reissued his finest masterpiece, Ovington's Bank.
"Weyman went to Ludlow Grammar School, Shrewsbury School, and his father was an eminent Ludlow solicitor. Novelist Graham Greene described Ovington's Bank as 'one of the key books in my life.'"
Ovington's Bank was written at the height of Weyman's powers, and is considered the finest of his 24 novels.
Weyman qualified as a barrister and supplemented his meagre income by writing short stories for the Cornhill Magazine. The editor's suggestion that he try his hand at writing novels proved a turning point in his career, and international bestsellers followed, earning him immense popularity and a substantial fortune.
For the last 30 years of his life he lived in Denbighshire. He died in 1928 and by the late 20th century all his books were out of print.
Ovington's Bank is published by Merlin Unwin Books (www.merlinunwin.co.uk) and costs £15.99.
