1964. First Published. 195 pages. No dust jacket. Pictorial cloth. Well bound and clean pages, with mild tanning to text block edges. Some rub-marking and tanning to pastedowns ...During 1945 H. E. Bates spent some time in Burma and India with the aim of writing about the Burmese war for American readers. The experience inspired three ?Asian novels?, one of which was ?The Purple Plain?. After returning to England he heard a story about a pilot who, having lost his wife to a German bomb while on honeymoon, as a consequence had become "a much-decorated hero by the dubious method of trying to get himself killed". It provided the spark that prompted Bates to start working on the novel (in any event, because of his experiences while over there, he was already keen to write about his time in Burma).