The Verdun Affair by Nick Dybek
THE VERDUN AFFAIR is a deeply moving and evocative novel about a passionate love affair and the tragedy of wartime, set during the tumultuous years of post-World War I Europe.
As evocative as it is unflinching in its verisimilitude . . The identity of an amnesiac soldier is the mystery at the novel's ambiguous heart, but capturing the fragmented textures of war's afterlife, and the private desires that seem to glow with even greater intensity in memory, is Dybek's true ambition. * Vogue *
A haunting, beautiful, and wholly absorbing book, that is at once a gripping story of war, a poignant coming of age, and a bittersweet romance. Dybek conjures the time period with elegance and visceral detail. I didn't want it to end! * Madeline Miller, author of The Song of Achilles and Circe *
The Verdun Affair is ravishingly beautiful, and as much about love as about war. I found myself drawn in immediately, believing the place, the characters, everything in Nick Dybek's magnificently woven story, which is as finely painted and meted out as Anthony Doerr's, All the Light we Cannot See, and yet fully its own book. Dybek is a storyteller of great power. If there's any justice, this novel will be widely read and recognized. I absolutely adored it. * Paula McLain, bestselling author of THE PARIS WIFE and CIRCLING THE SUN *
I am still haunted by the images of war so deftly conjured in the midst of an elegiac love story. Dybek writes with a commanding sense of story and language. This novel will not let you go. * Helen Simonson, author of Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand and The Summer Before The War *
Sometimes the true battle begins only after the fighting is over. In this case, it's the struggle to regain feeling, memory, and love in a landscape where verdancy can flourish again over graves and trenches and bones, but not over the craters of a wounded spirit. In the end, only a story can do that, but it must be as rich and poignant and compelling as Nick Dybek's immersive and atmospheric The Verdun Affair. The meaning in life often goes AWOL, and we look to our great writers-writers like Nick Dybek-to bring it back. * Adam Johnson, author of The Orphan Master’s Son and Fortune Smiles *
The Verdun Affair is an intensely gripping story set in the immediate aftermath of war. From a still-smoldering battlefield, Nick Dybek conjures a sweeping saga of secrets, lies, mistaken identity, love and betrayal. This is the kind of book you can't put down. * Claire Vaye Watkins, author of Gold Fame Citrus and Battleborn *
The Verdun Affair is a masterful, sweeping novel of love and war and the way we reconstruct ourselves and our stories after everything has come apart. Nick Dybek is a vivid storyteller, and this is a beautiful and exciting book. * Ramona Ausubel, author of Sons and Daughters of Ease and Plenty and No One is Here Except all of Us *
Love, war, the mysteries of who we are -- it's all in The Verdun Affair. A masterful novel that will fizz your brain and enchant your heart. * David Ebershoff, author of The Danish Girl and The 19th Wife *
Gripping . . . a cleverly constructed page-turner . . . Dybek is a master at creating an atmosphere of war, of decadence amid the rubble, and at dipping in and out of history, teasing the reader with beguiling clues concerning the secrets each character harbors about the amnesiac. Dybek's novel is a complex tale of memory, choice, and the sacrifices one sometimes makes by doing the right thing. * Publishers Weekly, starred review *
For a literary romance, try The Verdun Affair by Nick Dybek, a historical fiction that begins in 1950 in Los Angeles, where a Hollywood screenwriter runs into someone from his past. Their story stretches back to Europe in the years following the First World War, and the novel unravels a love triangle and its players' secrets * LA Times *
While there are obvious comparisons to The English Patient, this book seems to be an extended metaphor showing how relationships, loves even, can be shattered beyond all recognition, just as a human body can be obliterated. The author effectively communicates the spirit of place and time. He also has a knack for sharing the feelings and intentions behind quite ordinary conversations. * Historical Novels Review *
The Verdun Affair is an intensely gripping story set in the immediate aftermath of war. From a still-smoldering battlefield, Nick Dybek conjures a sweeping saga of secrets, lies, mistaken identity, love and betrayal. This is the kind of book you can't put down. -- Claire Vaye Watkins, author of Gold Fame Citrus
A haunting, beautiful, and wholly absorbing book, that is at once a gripping story of war, a poignant coming of age, and a bittersweet romance. Dybek conjures the time period with elegance and visceral detail. I didn't want it to end! * Madeline Miller, author of The Song of Achilles and Circe *
The Verdun Affair is ravishingly beautiful, and as much about love as about war. I found myself drawn in immediately, believing the place, the characters, everything in Nick Dybek's magnificently woven story, which is as finely painted and meted out as Anthony Doerr's, All the Light we Cannot See, and yet fully its own book. Dybek is a storyteller of great power. If there's any justice, this novel will be widely read and recognized. I absolutely adored it. * Paula McLain, bestselling author of THE PARIS WIFE and CIRCLING THE SUN *
I am still haunted by the images of war so deftly conjured in the midst of an elegiac love story. Dybek writes with a commanding sense of story and language. This novel will not let you go. * Helen Simonson, author of Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand and The Summer Before The War *
Sometimes the true battle begins only after the fighting is over. In this case, it's the struggle to regain feeling, memory, and love in a landscape where verdancy can flourish again over graves and trenches and bones, but not over the craters of a wounded spirit. In the end, only a story can do that, but it must be as rich and poignant and compelling as Nick Dybek's immersive and atmospheric The Verdun Affair. The meaning in life often goes AWOL, and we look to our great writers-writers like Nick Dybek-to bring it back. * Adam Johnson, author of The Orphan Master’s Son and Fortune Smiles *
The Verdun Affair is an intensely gripping story set in the immediate aftermath of war. From a still-smoldering battlefield, Nick Dybek conjures a sweeping saga of secrets, lies, mistaken identity, love and betrayal. This is the kind of book you can't put down. * Claire Vaye Watkins, author of Gold Fame Citrus and Battleborn *
The Verdun Affair is a masterful, sweeping novel of love and war and the way we reconstruct ourselves and our stories after everything has come apart. Nick Dybek is a vivid storyteller, and this is a beautiful and exciting book. * Ramona Ausubel, author of Sons and Daughters of Ease and Plenty and No One is Here Except all of Us *
Love, war, the mysteries of who we are -- it's all in The Verdun Affair. A masterful novel that will fizz your brain and enchant your heart. * David Ebershoff, author of The Danish Girl and The 19th Wife *
Gripping . . . a cleverly constructed page-turner . . . Dybek is a master at creating an atmosphere of war, of decadence amid the rubble, and at dipping in and out of history, teasing the reader with beguiling clues concerning the secrets each character harbors about the amnesiac. Dybek's novel is a complex tale of memory, choice, and the sacrifices one sometimes makes by doing the right thing. * Publishers Weekly, starred review *
For a literary romance, try The Verdun Affair by Nick Dybek, a historical fiction that begins in 1950 in Los Angeles, where a Hollywood screenwriter runs into someone from his past. Their story stretches back to Europe in the years following the First World War, and the novel unravels a love triangle and its players' secrets * LA Times *
While there are obvious comparisons to The English Patient, this book seems to be an extended metaphor showing how relationships, loves even, can be shattered beyond all recognition, just as a human body can be obliterated. The author effectively communicates the spirit of place and time. He also has a knack for sharing the feelings and intentions behind quite ordinary conversations. * Historical Novels Review *
The Verdun Affair is an intensely gripping story set in the immediate aftermath of war. From a still-smoldering battlefield, Nick Dybek conjures a sweeping saga of secrets, lies, mistaken identity, love and betrayal. This is the kind of book you can't put down. -- Claire Vaye Watkins, author of Gold Fame Citrus
Nick Dybek's first novel, WHEN CAPTAIN FLINT WAS STILL A GOOD MAN, was the winner of the 2013 Society of Midland Authors Award, a finalist for the VCU-Cabell First Novelist Award and his been translated into five languages. He's also a recipient of a Granta New Voices selection, a Michener-Copernicus Society of America Award and a Maytag Fellowship. He received a BA from the University of Michigan and an MFA from The Iowa Writers' Workshop. He teaches at Oregon State University.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781472153869 |
| ISBN 10 | 1472153863 |
| Title | The Verdun Affair |
| Author | Nick Dybek |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Little, Brown Book Group |
| Year published | 2018-08-02 |
| Number of pages | 304 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |