Gestures - Brossura

Bhabra, H. S.

Brossura

ISBN 10: 0385658281 ISBN 13: 9780385658287

Casa editrice: Doubleday of Canada, 2002

Riassunto

A beautiful and harrowing reflection on memory and accountability, Gestures is a tale of eloquent and tragic force.

The story begins in 1923. A young and inexperienced Foreign Service officer, Jeremy Burnham arrives in the storied and exotic city of Venice to take up his first post. He falls into a friendship with an attractive older woman, Jane Carlyle, who initiates him into Venetian society and introduces him to the enigmatic Eva von Woerden, and the cosmopolitan Jewish art connoisseur Anthony Manet. The destinies of these four characters become enlaced as Venice and Italy fall under the encroaching shadow of fascism. When one of them is brutally murdered, a chain of events is set off that will climax more than twenty years later in the ruins of post-war Amsterdam, when the lessons of courage and moral responsibility implicit in that earlier death are at last made plain. H. S. Bhabra’s stunning novel is a richly wrought narrative of a world caught in the flux of the twentieth century.

Su questo libro

Recensione:

"A first novel of unusual sophistication and complexity." -- Robertson Davies

"Bhabra pulls off this feat of make-believe with such stunning conviction and aplomb that we're tempted to believe in reincarnation. It is, in short, a virtuoso performance, particularly for a first novel... Bhabra writes with remarkable urbanity, wisdom and sophistication... Gestures is that rare creation -- a provocative, intelligent novel with an almost perfect balance between ideas and action." -- The Globe and Mail

"A poignant tale of betrayal and corruption." -- Susan Swan

"The most impressive quality of Gestures is a patient, muscular seriousness that dares to dive to the depths of human experience: the book has the density and sonorousness of real art." -- Maclean's
"What is extraordinary about Gestures, besides its sheer readability, is that rich mix of urbane wit and sardonic commentary on the human condition -- The portrait of evil in a world of crisis and rendered from exceptionally close focus, frighteningly so." -- William Wiser, author of Disappearances

"To read Gestures is to be absorbed into a world so authentic, so fully summoned, so delicately shaded with personality and event, that one's own world quickly pales. It is a subtle and elegant novel, pulsing with intelligence. As all great stories do, it has the possibility of altering the ways in which we see the world." -- Neil Bissoondath

L'autore:

H. S. Bhabra was born in Bombay and raised in England. A graduate of Trinity College, Oxford, he worked for a time in international banking, then, during the 1980s, published three thrillers (one of which won the Raymond Chandler Award) and his one literary novel, Gestures. After moving to Canada, he worked at TVOntario and was for two years the co-host of the book show Imprint. He died in June 2000.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Doubleday of Canada
• Data di pubblicazione: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0385658281
• ISBN 13: 9780385658287
• Rilegatura: Paperback
• Numero di pagine: 352