The Great Divorce
In this haunting . . . utterly compelling work of fiction ( The New York Times ), the bestselling author of Mary Reilly weaves together the lives of three women attempting to make sense of the cruelties committed in the name of civilization.
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Full details for this title
| Interest Age |
All ages |
| Reading Age |
All ages |
| Library of Congress |
Domestic fiction, New Orleans (La.), Women - Louisiana, Zoos - Employees, New Orleans (La.) |
| NBS Text |
General & Literary Fiction |
| ONIX Text |
General/trade |
|
| Number of Pages |
352 pp |
| Dimensions |
Width: 132mm
Height: 205mm
Spine: 20mm |
| Weight |
259g |
|
| Dewey Code |
813.54 |
| Catalogue Code |
Not specified |
Description of this Book
Valerie Martin, bestselling author of Mary Reilly, weaves together the lives of three women attempting to make sense of the cruelties committed in the name of civilization. Ellen Clayton, accomplished veterinarian at the New Orleans Zoo, is coping with her husband's decision to leave her after twenty years. Ellen's assistant Camille comes to identify with the big cats in their care during increasingly bizarre episodes. And Elisabeth Boyer, a passionate Creole aristocrat trapped on an antebellum plantation, finds deliverance in the form of a black leopard. Their unfolding stories reveal the ordinary and extraordinary measures required to make whole our fractured world.
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Awards & Reviews
| NZ Review |
Haunting. . . . An utterly compelling work of fiction. - The New York Times <br> The Great Divorce is at turns eerie, disturbing, painful and passionate, all the while honest and compelling. . .It is perhaps Martin's most provocative and resonant work. <br>- San Francisco Chronicle <br> A deeply satisfying meditation on the separation between man and nature. . .Martin's fierce intelligence, her thematic concerns, here call to mind the work of Margaret Atwood and Doris Lessing. - The Times-Picayune <br> The Great Divorce is the kind of fiction that can briefly refocus and broaden the scope of what we notice about the world. -Francine Prose, Los Angeles Times <br> Enthralling. -Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, The Boston Globe <br> The generosity of Martin's understanding opens every character to the full, astounding range of human possibility. Her revelations build mesmerizing excitement, a surprising kindness, and an unexpected sanity in the darkness. -Katherine Dunn, The Washington Post Book World <br> The prose is dreamlike but vivid. . . . It is beautifully written, and evokes New Orleans, both as a real place and as a fevered fantasy. - The Philadelphia Inquirer <br> Compulsively readable, a great mixture of psychological insight and good storytelling. - Chicago Sun-Times <br> Completely engrossing. . . . Martin describes heartbreak and endurance while maintaining the tension of a psychological thriller. A meticulously designed, subtly executed delight. - New York Daily News <br> Moves with irresistible momentum, carrying us from one mysterious world to another. Martin's prose is beautifully crisp and clean. - Newsday <br> The Great Divorce becomes something more than thesum of its parts, an inventive and original novel of nature and humanity, freedom and captivity, love, transformation and the call of the wild. - The Orlando Sentinel <br> A blend of gothic horror and psychological drama. . . . An extraordinary, and endlessly mysterious, work of fiction. - Entertainment Weekly <br> The Great Divorce evocatively humanizes the wild nature that is just beneath the surface of us all. - Time <br> Sexy, absorbing and insightful . . . a great read. - People<br> |
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Author's Bio
Valerie Martin is the author of six novels and two collections of short fiction, including Italian Fever and Mary Reilly, and a biography of St. Francis, Salvation. She resides in upstate New York.
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