The Rules of Perspective - Hardcover

Thorpe, Adam

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0805080422 ISBN 13: 9780805080421

Publisher: Henry Holt & Co, 2006

Synopsis

A story of beauty, hope, and love in the face of war
     On the morning of April 3, 1945, a phosphorous shell from the advancing American army tears through the roof of the Kaiser Wilhelm Museum in the historic town of Lohenfelde.
     Huddled in the museum’s vaults to escape the artillery bombardment, are Heinrich Hoffer, the museum’s hapless acting director, and three of his colleagues. These vaults become the stage for an intense psychological drama of secret histories and shared terror, as the four Germans prepare themselves for their fate.
     Aboveground, picking through the rubble, an American soldier, Corporal Neal Parry, longs to be back in West Virginia studying art—not dodging sniper’s bullets in yet another hostile city. When he finds a small eighteenth-century oil titled Landscape with Ruins in what remains of the museum’s vaults, Parry is immediately reconnected with a lost world of beauty and order: the province of art. As the two narratives interweave, the painting’s provenance reveals the hidden story of Herr Hoffer, his promiscuos wife, and his three museum associates—and in doing so uncovers other darker mysteries.
     Through his beautifully drawn characters, Adam Thorpe allows us to see, as they begin to see, the possibilities of art and love: perspective in the face of war.

About this title

Review

"Art and war collide in this powerful novel... Moving and thought-provoking" (Daily Telegraph)

"An intricately constructed, powerfully written piece: the work of a serious, hard-working novelist in his prime. In the nexus of art, war and flawed humanity, Thorpe has found a thrilling, evanescent beauty" (Sunday Telegraph)

"An elaborately plotted work of formal brilliance and invention...a compelling fiction that memorably portrays the wretchedness of war" (Evening Standard)

"A gem...he enfolds us in the macabre, dust-laden terror of an enemy artillery strike, his imagery so vivid it causes one's throat to constrict" (Literary Review)

"A wholly gripping meditation on the place of art and beauty in a world governed by violence... Beautiful and compelling" (Daily Mail)

From the Publisher

Sixty years on: a great novel about the end of World War II - an acclaimed, riveting and moving masterpiece

Edition details

• Publisher: Henry Holt & Co
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0805080422
• ISBN 13: 9780805080421
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 333