Carrie by Stephen King – 1974 Doubleday Book Club Hardcover with Dust Jacket
Carrie is Stephen King’s explosive debut novel—a haunting story of adolescence, alienation, and the raw force of power when it meets cruelty. Carrie White is a shy, ostracized teenager, tormented at home and at school, until her strange gift of telekinesis erupts in an unforgettable night of terror. Both a horror story and a philosophical fable about repression and release, Carrie reminds us how fragile the line is between victim and destroyer.
When it was first published in 1974, Carrie didn’t just shock—it unsettled. Parents and school boards attempted to ban the novel, claiming its depiction of witchcraft, telekinesis, and violence was inappropriate for young readers. Ironically, those same controversies only underscored the book’s enduring importance: King dared to ask what happens when a voice that’s been silenced finally demands to be heard.
This particular copy is a 1974 Book Club Edition hardcover with dust jacket, published by Doubleday. The jacket remains in very good condition, with only foxing at the edges and a faint pen indentation on the back cover. It now rests in a brand-new archival-quality clear wrapper. The boards are strong, with just light speckling along the top edge, and the pages are clean—free of inscriptions, dog-ears, or marginalia. A survivor in its own right, much like its protagonist, this edition makes a thoughtful and collectible piece of literary history.
