Marazan
Marazan marks the debut novel of British writer Nevil Shute, first issued in 1926 by Cassell & Co and later reissued in 1951 through William Heinemann. The narrative is partially set in the Isles of Scilly.
Plot summary
Philip Stenning, a commercial aviator trained during the First World War, suffers a crash caused by engine malfunction and is saved by Denis Compton, an escaped prisoner. Compton has been falsely accused of embezzlement by his Italian half-brother, Baron Rodrigo Mattani, who operates a drug trafficking network into England. Stenning becomes instrumental in bringing down this narcotics syndicate. The novel incorporates motifs common to Shute’s work: aviation, small craft sailing, and a romantic subplot.
The character Stenning also appears in Shute’s earlier unpublished work Stephen Morris and makes minor appearances in later novels So Disdained (1928) and Lonely Road (1932).
Author's later reflections
In his autobiography Slide Rule, Shute describes revising Marazan several times while employed as an aeronautical engineer. Unlike his first two unpublished manuscripts, which were typed on an old Blick typewriter, Marazan was the first novel he produced using a new typewriter bought with his engineering income.