The Devil's Footprints - Hardcover

Burnside, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0224074881 ISBN 13: 9780224074889

Publisher: Jonathan Cape Ltd, 2007

Synopsis

Once, on a winter's night many years ago, after a heavy snow, the devil passed through the Scottish fishing town of Coldhaven, leaving a trail of dark hoofprints across the streets and roofs of the sleeping town.

Michael Gardiner has lived in Coldhaven all his life, but still feels like an outsider, a blow-in. Now living in self-imposed exile out on the point, Michael feels at one with the sea-birds and the changing light of this ancient landscape - yet more distant than ever from the dark, closed community of the villagers. But that is about to change.

When Moira Birnie decides that her abusive husband is the devil and then kills herself and her two young sons, a terrible chain of events begins. Michael's infatuation with the fourteen-year-old Hazel takes him on a journey towards a defined fate, where he is forced to face his present and then, finally, his past. Having confronted his own demons he must return, walking in penance and penitence, to be reborn into a world where he was always a stranger.

Written with the exquisite clarity and power of a folktale, The Devil's Footprints is the story of a man trying to come to terms with a suspended life, and the fear, guilt and unbearable grief that mark it. Revealing what lies beneath the surface of the everyday world, John Burnside has written a novel of mysterious and terrifying beauty - as primal and thrilling as cloven hooves in the snow.

About this title

Review

'a classic tale with an old-fashioned, gripping plot'
-- Anne Enright, Guardian

"Burnside's dark lyricism gives the ordinary surfaces of life a sinister geometry and his startling images cling to the imagination" -- Sunday Times, April 15, 2007

'Both this novel and Gift Songs are superb achievements' -- The Financial Times

'Burnside whose output is nothing less than phenomenal.'
-- The Herald

'Spare, bewitching, beautifully written book' -- The Times

'The Devil's Footsteps is convincing, occasionally disturbing and
ultimately comforting'
-- The Herald

'Thrilling, haunting and provocative' -- Scotland on Sunday

'Undeniably entertaining throughout' -- The Sunday Telegraph

`No novel since this author's last one has made you this chill in
the bone...snowlit and morally courageous book' -- Scottish Review of Books - Rev'd Candia McWillian

`this engaging and well-written novel, which reads almost as a
piece of folklore' -- Big Issue Big Issue

From the Publisher

A breathtaking novel by the author of A Lie About My Father.

Edition details

• Publisher: Jonathan Cape Ltd
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0224074881
• ISBN 13: 9780224074889
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224