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| Corvus May 2014 |
The story opens as Arthur
Winthrop, a middle aged headmaster, is found wandering naked in ice and snow on
a winter’s morning in New York’s Central Park. From this behaviour, one would
assume that he is in the throes of some sort of personal crisis and the
revelation of an illicit affair with one of his students goes some way to
explain Arthur’s somewhat ignominious fall from grace. This conduct unbecoming
of an elite prep school headmaster forms the crux of the story and Arthur’s
downward spiral into menacing obsession is both alarming and heartbreaking in
equal measure.
From the beginning, it becomes
obvious that this is no ordinary story of forbidden love and as the jigsaw
pieces of Arthur Winthrop’s life are pieced together, the hint of dangerous
obsession, the enticement of illicit passion and the unreliability of an
unstable narrator allows us a tantalising glimpse into a life torn apart by
grief and loss. By dividing the story into three distinct parts; Acrimony, Expectations, and After, and
the arrival of other more eloquent narrators in parts two and three, we are
given a whole new perspective into Arthur’s version of events.
The author has an appealing way
of tempting the reader and the complexity of the plot is nicely handled. The
final dénouement is an entirely appropriate ending and only serves to reiterate the
vagaries of life and the capriciousness of heartache.
I enjoyed it and will look out
for more books by this author.
My thanks to Real Readers for my
copy of this book.
*~*~*
I just want to add that I prefer the US cover of this book !
This looks an interesting book, and yes I agree about the covers! It's a strange fact of book selling that US and UK markets differ in this respect.
ReplyDeleteHi Jan ~ thanks for visiting us. I despair of book covers - they are so important - the US seems to win hands down - imo !!
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