The Blasphemer - Softcover

Farndale, Nigel

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0385617801 ISBN 13: 9780385617802

Publisher: Doubleday, 2010

Synopsis

On its way to the Galapagos Islands, a light aircraft ditches into the sea. As the water floods through the cabin, zoologist Daniel Kennedy faces an impossible choice -- should he save himself, or Nancy, the woman he loves? In a parallel narrative, it is 1917 and Daniel's great grandfather Andrew is preparing to go over the top at Passchendaele. He, too, will have his courage tested, and must live with the moral consequences of his actions. Back in London, the atheistic Daniel is wrestling with something his 'cold philosophy' cannot explain -- something unearthly he thought he saw while swimming for help in the Pacific. But before he can make sense of it, the past must collapse into the present, and both he and Andrew must prove themselves capable of altruism, and deserving of forgiveness. The Blasphemer is a story about conditional love, cowardice and the possibility of redemption -- and what happens to a man of science when forced to question his certainties. It is a novel of rare depth, empathy and ambition that sweeps from the trenches of the First World War to the terrorist-besieged streets of London today: a novel that will speak to the head as well as the heart of any reader.

About this title

Review:

"Epic....a truly transcendental reading experience.""--BookPage.com" "[An] elegant meditation on morality (among many other topics)....Farndale...knows how to tell a terrific story."--"Publishers Weekly," starred review International praise for Nigel Farndale's THE BLASPHEMER "This is a fine novel; strange and unforgettable."--Kate Saunders, "The Times" [London] "A great achievement...To take on the First World War as so very many have done and make it fresh is remarkable." --Melvyn Bragg "Does suspense exceptionally well, and is a book that won't leave your fingernails intact...a terrifically exciting and thought-provoking must-read." --John Harding, "Daily Mail" "Beautiful...Farndale's elegant prose, his storytelling ability and the wise tolerance with which he views...his characters lend his exhilarating novel a tenderly redemptive afterimage."--Jane Shilling, "Sunday Telegraph" "This perfectly constructed drama explores the moralities around unconditional love and self-preservation. And it also weaves an intricate story of redemption starting in the trenches at Passchendaele and continuing till Britain's current terror threat....storytelling at its best." --"News of the World" "Ignites with an energy that should ensure short-listing in the next Man Booker Prize....Farndale's evocation of trench warfare surpasses Sebastian Faulks's Birdsong...Of the book's many accomplishments perhaps the strongest is the writing itself. Exquisite and luminous...Farndale gives a master class in the power of literature to illuminate the physical world and the human soul." --"The Australian" "Love, cowardice and redemption are the themes that stalk Farndale's beautifully intelligent tale." --"Daily Mirror" "A beguiling and resonant novel of ideas. The action is vivid and absorbing...although this intergenerational family drama is plotted like a thriller, it's also a novel

Book Description:

Shortlisted for the 2010 Costa Novel Award, an astonishing, ambitious and masterful new novel, with echoes of Birdsong, that reads at the pace of a thriller.

About this edition

• Publisher: Doubleday
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0385617801
• ISBN 13: 9780385617802
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 432