# October Island

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> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/October_Island.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_Island
> Source revision: 1333599372
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

{{short description|1952 novel by William March}}
{{for|the island in Kaliningrad|Oktyabrsky Island}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox book | <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Novels or Wikipedia:WikiProject_Books -->
| name         = October Island
| title_orig   = 
| translator   = 
| image        = File:OctoberIsland.jpg
| caption= First US edition
| author       = [William March](/source/William_March)
| cover_artist = 
| country      = [United States](/source/United_States)
| language     = [English](/source/English_language)
| series       = 
| genre        = 
| publisher    = [Little, Brown](/source/Little%2C_Brown) (US)<br>[Gollancz](/source/Victor_Gollancz_Ltd) (UK)
| release_date = 1952
| media_type   = Print ([Hardback](/source/Hardcover) & [Paperback](/source/Paperback))
| pages        = 
| isbn         = 
| preceded_by  = [Trial Balance: The Collected Short Stories of William March](/source/Trial_Balance%3A_The_Collected_Short_Stories_of_William_March) (1945)
| followed_by  = [The Bad Seed](/source/The_Bad_Seed) (1954)
}}

'''''October Island''''' is a [novel](/source/novel) by [American](/source/United_States) [author](/source/author) [William March](/source/William_March), first published in 1952 by Little, Brown (in the United States) and Gollancz (in the United Kingdom). The book is not currently in print.

While there were plenty of reviews ([Roy S. Simmonds](/source/Roy_S._Simmonds) lists 29 in his ''William March: An Annotated Checklist''<ref>{{cite book
  | last = Simmonds
  | first = Roy S.
  | authorlink = Roy S. Simmonds
  | title = William March: An Annotated Checklist
  | publisher = [University of Alabama Press](/source/University_of_Alabama_Press)
  | year = 1988
  | location = Tuscaloosa
  | pages = [https://archive.org/details/williammarchanno0000simm/page/175 175–81]
  | url = https://archive.org/details/williammarchanno0000simm
  | url-access = registration
  | doi = 
  | id = 
  | isbn = 0-8173-0361-8}}</ref>), many of them were quite negative; most of the negative reviews claimed the book was flat and uninteresting. In ''[The New York Times Book Review](/source/The_New_York_Times_Book_Review)'', [Donald Barr](/source/Donald_Barr_(novelist)) complained that the characters were marionettes;<ref>{{cite news 
  | last = Donald
  | first = Barr
  | title = A Tale of Morality and Fulfillment
  | work = [The New York Times Book Review](/source/The_New_York_Times_Book_Review)
  | place =
  | page = 44
  | language = 
  | publisher = 
  | date = 1952-10-19
  | url = 
  }}</ref> [John Betjeman](/source/John_Betjeman), in the ''[Daily Telegraph](/source/Daily_Telegraph)'', was even more critical: "The book is written simply, but it is empty, and there is really nothing beyond its simplicity. It is neither real nor fantastic."<ref>{{cite news 
  | last = Betjeman
  | first = John
  | title = Rev. of ''October Island''
  | work = [Daily Telegraph](/source/Daily_Telegraph)
  | place =
  | page = 6
  | language = 
  | publisher = 
  | date = 1952-06-20
  | url = 
  }}</ref>

Positive appraisal came from, for instance, Charles Poore, in ''[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)'', who praises March's "novel of salt and savor" full of "quiet, uninsistent irony" and his "mordant undertones of commentary on what it truly means to be an outcast."<ref>{{cite news 
  | last = Poore
  | first = Charles
  | title = Books of the Times
  | work = [The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)
  | place =
  | page = 27
  | language = 
  | publisher = 
  | date = 1952-10-16
  | url = http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F7061EFC3558107A93C4A8178BD95F468585F9&scp=1&sq=uninsistent+irony&st=p
  | accessdate = 2009-08-21}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:1952 American novels
Category:Novels by William March
Category:Little, Brown and Company books
Category:Novels set on islands

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [October Island](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_Island) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_Island?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.