Salamander by Thomas Wharton
'A dazzling, exhilarating adventure joining 18th-century printer Nicholas Flood and his motley band on a quest for the infinite book...A joy for anyone who loves stories and a must for everyone who loves books.' Big Issue The year is 1717. Stung by the mysterious death of his only son, Count Ostrov renounces army life and retires to his remote island retreat. There, in mourning, he loses himself in his love of puzzles, turning the very fabric of his spectacular Slav castle into a giant, mechanical conundrum of revolving doors, moving floors and unstable staircases. The Count brings to this impossible castle the legendary English printer Nicholas Flood, and charges him with the task of producing a book without beginning or end. But no sooner has Flood set about his quest than he meets the Count's beautiful, brilliant and yet somehow damaged daughter, Irena. In the shadows cast by the wheels and cogs of the clockwork castle, Flood finds himself distracted from the task in hand, and instead begins work on another book entirely, a secret gift for a secret lover -- a tiny octavo volume with one word, Desire, gold-tooled on its spine...
'A magical tale of books and riddles, castles and countesses.. Gloriously inventive.' Elle 'A quest for the Perfect Book, the ultimate, world-containing volume, which this wonder-tale records and likewise exemplifies. Wharton's prose style is flexible, poetic, inventive and always lucid. Beguiling.' Eric Korn, Guardian 'Everyday things blossom with wonder in Thomas Wharton's Salamander... a vigorous, imaginative novel about the power of reading and invention. Each of the criss-crossing storylines is a cinematic epic on its own.' Quill & Quire 'A magical tale spanning continents and time.' Eastern Daily Press from the reviews for Icefields: 'Wharton has a fine sense of description, dialogue that is as spare as the landscape and a subtle hand with narrative.' Publishers Weekly 'Wharton's crisp prose transports you to the edge of the glacier... This is a clean, pensive book that inspires contemptlation of one's own visions.' Time Out 'Crosses Ondaatje's The English Patient with Hoeg's Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow... ironic, brilliant and unforgettable.' Telegraph
thomas wharton is the author of one previous novel, Icefields (1994), of which the Telegraph said: 'Crosses Ondaatje's The English Patient with Hoeg's Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow... ironic, brilliant and unforgettable.'
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780007128662 |
| ISBN 10 | 0007128665 |
| Title | Salamander |
| Author | Thomas Wharton |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | HarperCollins Publishers |
| Year published | 2003-01-06 |
| Number of pages | 384 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |