The Fall (57 page)
“Powerful…An eloquent novel…. The characters are compelling and the story is riveting.”
—Andrew Nagorski,
Newsweek
“Luminous….
The Gospel of Judas
establishes Simon Mawer as a world-class novelist…. The novel’s themes are fully embodied in story, and the story in particular
characters. At times, the reader feels physically wrenched by the events in the novel. The spareness of the prose and the
unresolvable tension of the situations can catch your breath…. Mawer’s use of the novel to explore social, political, intimate,
and religious history reveals the power of this genre to redeem the present.”
—Thomas D’Evelyn,
Christian Science Monitor
“Simon Mawer’s prose is admirably lyrical, playful, and precise. His greatest strength, however, is in crafting probing, puzzlelike
narratives that yield compelling dramas of the mind and heart.”
—Michael Upchurch,
Atlantic Monthly
“Mawer draws us into a classic plot, set in both Rome and Israel, about high figures who fall to low places even as some of
the most devoutly held beliefs of the church come under great pragmatic assault. This combination is nearly irresistible for
anyone seeking a thriller with intellectual (and in this case, theological) undertones.”
—Alan Cheuse,
Dallas Morning News
“A gripping, utterly compelling story…. It keeps the reader mesmerized.”
—Lisa Jardine,
The Sunday Times
(London)
“An intellectual thriller of uncommon substance…. Rome and Jerusalem are vividly evoked without an excess of description.
And the rich vein of expert biblical and scientific knowledge that runs through the story serves not to display the author’s
erudition but to figure upon the problems of the characters. What makes all this work so well is Mawer’s beautifully rendered
prose. Clean and straightforward, it is incredibly nuanced in capturing the emotional response to faith, love, and sex. Mawer
seems to inhabit the deepest reaches of Leo Newman’s humanity…. A noteworthy achievement.”
—Chauncey Mabe,
Boston Globe
“The Gospel of Judas
deals with virtually every large issue that life has to offer: identity, mortality, love, and the existence of God…. Many
readers will finish the novel only to pick it up once more and peel off another layer.”
—Ilene Cooper,
Booklist
“An excellent novel…. Tightly constructed is not the right term; try seamless. Mawer has produced tightly woven, brilliantly
matching narrative threads that make up a splendid cloth.”
—Roger K. Miller,
BookPage
“Compelling….
The Gospel of Judas
is a traditional thriller. It respects conventions—surprises and other page-turning incentives keep on coming—as it stretches
them with scholarly subject matter, theological argument, and superb writing…. Atmospheric, moving, and entertaining, this
is a novel that simultaneously challenges and reaffirms faith in literary fiction, if nothing else.”
—Kevin Riordan,
Courier-Post
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Brownsville
Stories by Oscar Casares
“What Casares has achieved is rare…. His fine first collection creates a lively and memorable community of Mexican Americans
living on the Texas border…. This author loves his characters and their home, and readers will too.”
—Sandra Scofield,
Chicago Tribune
Versailles
A
novel by Kathryn Davis
“A splendid novel…. It is rapturous, like an aria. Indeed, it is a kind of aria, being the story of Marie Antoinette’s life….
She’s very much alive here, and she’s magnificent.”
—Stacey D’Erasmo,
New York Times Book Review
Forever
A
novel by Pete Hamill
“A New York fantasy: big, extravagant, untrammeled, and as hugely readable as it must have been hugely entertaining to write.
…
Forever
is old-fashioned storytelling at a gallop.”
—Frances Taliaferro,
Washington Post Book World
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A Winter Marriage
A novel by Kerry Hardie
“A Winter Marriage
is an amazement. Kerry Hardie achieves a deep and authoritative portrait of the harms we do each other when trust and love
go lacking, and provides us with a heroine whose claim on a reader’s heart is both aching and relentless.”
—Alice Sebold, author of
The Lovely Bones
The Black Veil
A memoir by Rick Moody
“Compulsively readable…. A profound meditation on madness, shame, and history…. One of the finest memoirs in recent years.”
—Jeffery Smith,
Washington Post Book World
The Tapestries
A novel by Kien Nguyen
“It’s been a long time since I’ve read a novel as richly satisfying….
The Tapestries
is rooted in the particulars of history. Yet it weaves a vivid picture of emotions and motives familiar to everyone on Earth:
greed, honor, family loyalty, power, love, revenge…. Nguyen is such a skillful storyteller.”
—Polly Shulman,
Newsday
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Tourmaline
A
novel by Joanna Scott
“One of the most gifted writers at work today, Joanna Scott is brilliant, huge-hearted, devastating. In
Tourmaline,
she’s at the top of her form.”
—Michael Cunningham, author of
The Hours
All He Ever Wanted
A novel by Anita Shreve
“There’s something addictive about Shreve’s literary tales of love and lust…. She is a master at depicting passion’s ferocious
grip.”
—Jocelyn McClurg,
USA Today
In the Hand of Dante
A
novel by Nick Tosches
“An incendiary novel…. A blindingly brilliant and joltingly weird work of art…. The most audacious thing about
In the Hand of Dante
is the author’s delivery of rare aesthetic bliss.”
—Troy Patterson,
Entertainment Weekly
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