Jane Urquhart never fails to astonish me with original stories and gorgeous writing. I have finished reading each of her books with the thought that it is my favorite of hers—until her next novel usurps its place.
Changing Heaven incorporates one of Urquhart’s favorite tropes: the blurring of time, reality, and memory. Present-day Ann, disappointed in love and fascinated by the paintings of Tintoretto; Arianna, a Victorian balloonist whose partner has betrayed her; and fiery Emily Bronte all share a narrow sweep of history that reveals the commanding intellect of each woman.
Much of the novel takes place on the moors beloved by Heathcliff and Cathy (and by Ann and Emily) in a play of a dark, gloomy landscape, broken hearts, and the violent beauty of the weather.
Building on the reputation she established so resonantly in her first novel, The Whirlpool, Jane Urquhart now takes the reader on a magical and daring voyage - one that leads from the English moors (where the memory of Emily Bronte is as dark as it is magical) to Venice and modern-day Toronto. Changing Heaven tells the store of Ann, a young Bronte scholar, and of her doomed love affair with Arthur, an art historian obsessed with Tintoretto. Interwoven with this is the tragic, parallel tale of Arianna Ether, a turn-of the-century balloonist in love with the brooding Jeremy. These are…
Diane Setterfield’s book brings us magic, ghosts, resurrection, and redemption. A child, dead for hours, returns to life in a dark pub on the Thames, setting off a chain of mysteries, revelations, and claims to her present life and her future.
With a generous cast of equally intriguing characters, the author reaches into each individual heart—exploring despair, grief, resignation, victimization, hope, love, and human possibility. The main character is the Thames itself—moody, dangerous, prone to flooding and destruction, and embedded in the human consciousness.
This is my favorite (so far) of her novels, filled with rich prose, unforgettable imagery, and sly humor.
From the instant #1 New York Times bestselling author of the “eerie and fascinating” (USA TODAY) The Thirteenth Tale comes a “swift and entrancing, profound and beautiful” (Madeline Miller, internationally bestselling author of Circe) novel about how we explain the world to ourselves, ourselves to others, and the meaning of our lives in a universe that remains impenetrably mysterious.
On a dark midwinter’s night in an ancient inn on the river Thames, an extraordinary event takes place. The regulars are telling stories to while away the dark hours, when the door bursts open on a grievously wounded stranger. In his…
Too pressed for time (and too lazy) to reread the original, I read Foolbefore seeing a production of King Lear at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival. Moore pulls out all the stops with this short but vivacious retelling of the play.
His fool, the profane and witty Pocket, orchestrates all the chaos of Shakespeare’s play—setting sister against sister, courtier against courtier, and snidely snubbing the great man himself, King Lear—without incurring too much bodily harm.
This version of King Learends rather more merrily than Shakespeare’s, with most of the characters still alive and entrenched in silliness.
This is a bawdy tale. Herein you will find gratuitous shagging, murder, spanking, maiming, treason, and heretofore unexplored heights of vulgarity and profanity,. . . If that's the sort of thing you think you might enjoy, then you have happened upon the perfect story!'
So speaks Christopher Moore, one of America's funniest and bestselling authors, regarded as highly as classic satirists such as Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams.
Read Fool and discover for yourself why this book has dominated bestseller lists across the world, and why it has reduced millions of grown men and women to tears of helpless laughter...
1917: Trapped in a meaningless job, Kathleen O’Doherty volunteers as a Red Cross relief worker. In France, her vision is shaped by the two men who love her—and by the knowledge of how easily love can be lost.
Kathleen’s cousin, Sean Sullivan, enlists in the American Expeditionary Force to escape from his father’s tyranny. In the trenches, he struggles to balance his faith with the horrors he encounters. At home in Colorado, Sean’s sister, Maggie, marries the man she has always loved. Yet his resistance to the war effort threatens to take from Maggie everything she has ever wanted.
Rich in period detail, this first book in the White Winter Trilogy chronicles a journey through a fear-filled world toward hope, tolerance, and understanding.
