That editor, Walter Bradbury (no relation), was in fact convinced that Summer Morning, Summer Night would be a breakthrough book for Ray, his big opportunity to escape from the genre ghetto(es) that had both started and restricted his career. We can only assume that, once again, he was being driven to create a 'proper' novel either from his sense of what consititutes the true output of an author, or that he was being steered to the novel form by his editor. (See my blog post on The Martian Chronicles for more on this concept.) The end result is a partly-biographical story of one summer in the life of young Douglas Spaulding.īy the 1950s, Bradbury had published a number of the short stories, but still had very little of the linking material that could tie everything together into anything resembling an overall narrative. As with The Martian Chronicles, various short stories would be written and published first, as the book gradually came together as another of Bradbury's 'composite novels' or 'novelised story-cycles. The project evolved from being a set of stories about children and childhood, to including a conflict between children and the elderly. He drafted various brief outlines - often just a list of short story titles - called The Small Assassins, The Wind of Time, The Blue Remembered Hills and Summer Morning, Summer Night. Although it may look like he had gone away from Doubleday and then come back, in reality it was a case of Dandelion Wine being delayed because he was having trouble finishing it.īradbury's original concept for what became Dandelion Wine dates back to the mid-1940s. In the interim, he had published a children's book through a specialist publisher and two books with Ballantine. The Book Dandelion Wine was Ray Bradbury's first book for Doubleday in four years, the last being 1953's The Golden Apples of the Sun. In these posts, I cover each of Ray Bradbury's books, say something about the contents, then pick the best stories and adaptations.įirst edition, Doubleday 1957.

This is the eighth in a new series of posts, my Lockdown Choices, where I seek to entertain you while in coronavirus-isolation, and remind you of Bradbury's great works in this, his centenary year.

Dandelion wine by ray bradbury