Powerful, erotic, disturbing suspenseful novel set in Provence during World War Two, by acclaimed American author.
Day of the Bees is a darkly erotic story of obsessive love between a Picasso-like artist and his beautiful muse.
An American academic, researching the life of the most famous artist of the century and the mystery of why and how he abandoned the passionate relationship with his muse and lover during the war, finds a cache of letters in the woman’s house after her death.
The burningly passionate correspondence reveals the nature of their love and, eventually, the reason for their parting, and encompasses a taut Resistance storyline as well as a beautiful evocation of Provence – a harsher place than the tourist brochures or Peter Mayle portray.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
As Day of the Bees opens, Louise has just died alone in a small provincial village, and the Professor rushes to France to learn more about her role in Zermano's life. There he finds a pile of correspondence--and a revelation. According to legend, the artist treated Louise cruelly and abandoned her. Yet the letters reveal a deep and doomed love, one which is forever shattered when Louise is raped by a platoon of enemy soldiers (whom she later describes in her letters as "bees", a wonderfully eerie motif). Zermano, already beaten with a tire iron, is forced to watch the entire event. Here Louise recalls how the rape ruined her life, and its paradoxical resemblance to the redemption of true erotic love:
I have discovered something unnerving--that a woman in sexual ecstasy with her man forgets all detail; when it's over she wants to return and explore this abyss that still makes her tremble. The same thing can happen when she is raped, but for a different reason. Where joy once deleted memory, horror now destroys it. In two acts in her life can a woman lose all consciousness: in the act of lovemaking, and in rape, its cruel parody.After discovering Louise's letters, many of them never sent, the Professor embarks on a search for the ageing Zermano, hoping to help set the record straight. In these chapters, the violent and tragic love story at the heart of Day of the Bees is nicely counterbalanced by an obsessive academic's comedy of errors. --Emily White
Praise for the author’s previous novels:
Rabbit Boss:
‘Beautiful, poetic, powerful’
Times
‘Rare and wonderful’
Washington Post
Zoot-Suit Murders:
‘May be the best of the home-front novels of World War II’
Los Angeles Times
‘A great novel of love, war and politics. Like A Farewell to Arms...’
Le Monde, Paris
Mile Zero”
‘Dazzling... a masterpiece’
New York Times
‘Mythmaking and magisterial’
Vanity Fair
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Shipping:
£ 4.80
From United Kingdom to U.S.A.
Book Description Hardback. Condition: Very Good. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged. Seller Inventory # GOR005460639
Book Description Condition: Good. Most items will be dispatched the same or the next working day. Seller Inventory # wbb0023058590
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Used; Good. Dispatched, from the UK, within 48 hours of ordering. This book is in good condition but will show signs of previous ownership. Please expect some creasing to the spine and/or minor damage to the cover. Seller Inventory # CHL9442029
Book Description Hardback. 1st UK Edition. Octavo Size [approx 15.5 x 22.8cm]. Very Good condition in Very Good Dustjacket. DJ protected in our purpose-made plastic sleeve. A nice copy. Robust, professional packaging and tracking provided for all parcels. 279 pages. Inspired by the true-life stories of two women living in Provence during World War Two. Seller Inventory # 242433
Book Description Gebundene Ausgabe. Sehr schönes, innen wie außen sauberes Exemplar. Gelesene Ausgabe in hervorragendem Zustand. Seiten sind intakt und weisen weder Notizen noch Unterstreichungen auf. Der Buchrücken zeigt keinerlei Knicke oder andere Gebrauchsspuren. 384 S. Deutsch 999g. Seller Inventory # 657232