The Books of Summer, part 2A

Yep, that’s right, there’s even more to come
By Pat D’Amico

Early 2008 releases brought us: wonderfully imagined and researched fictional treatments of the lives of Aeneas’ second wife, Lavinia, and Lady Macbeth, a morality tale set among 19th-century fur trappers and gold diggers in British Columbia, a brilliant reimagining of the tragic and turbulent life of Robert Frost, a haunting tale of friendship with literary parallels, a violent night in backwoods Vermont, a bleak, visionary foreshadowing of post-apocalyptic New England, and a futuristic duel where the main character must outwit himself. Well, dust off those library cards, save up those Mother’s and Father’s Day gift certificates, and clip those bookstore coupons, because new and upcoming releases promise more great reading ahead.

Let’s start with May’s big release: the much-anticipated English translation of Ildefonso Falcones’ Cathedral of the Sea. This Spanish, multigenerational epic was a mammoth bestseller in Europe, and rightly so. The story opens with the 14th-century wedding of Bernot Estanyol, a recent inheritor of his family’s rich farmland. The festivities are ruined by his feudal lord’s brutal intrusion, an event that forever destroys any future happiness for Bernot and his bride. Bernot’s luck worsens, and soon he is running for his life with his infant son Arnau in tow. His destination is Barcelona, where he hopes to elude his master for a year and one day: the length of time necessary to establish his citizenship and freedom.

He’s given safe haven by his brother-in-law who is now, thanks to a past kindness by Bernot, rich and politically connected. Bernot learns a trade while he hides, rarely sees his son, who is being raised among his sister’s household, and comes very close to realizing his goals, until more bad luck befalls him. Arnau eventually becomes a stonemason, joins the guild, and helps build the architectural masterpiece that will be the Cathedral of Santa Maria de la Mar, which will be both the beauty and the beast of Barcelona as the evil that is the Inquisition grows. A doomed and betrayed love sets up an inevitable conflict between Arnau and the priest Joan (Arnau’s former childhood friend).

Falcones’ majestic novel is full of authentic period detail, carried along by a fine storytelling skill reminiscent of some of the best 19th-century European writers of historical adventures. Kudos go to Nick Coistor’s impeccable translation which is both fluid and invisible. Imagine a book that contains the best of the architectural research and backstory of Ken Follett’s Pillars of the Earth along with the stylistic atmosphere of Arturo Perez-Reverte’s Captain Alatriste, and is suffused with the religious oppression of The Hunchback of Notre Dame and you’ll get an idea of what’s within the pages of Cathedral of the Sea.

The Garden of Last Days by Andre Dubus III is set for a June release. Like House of Sand and Fog, this is a story about people with good intentions who make bad decisions, one after another, until events spiral out of control and manifest disaster. Dubus has an uncommon skill for narrative voice, and the plot lines that belong to April (a dancer in a Florida strip club) and A.J. are engaging and well drawn. However, the parallel plot about Middle Eastern terrorists, although vividly imagined, feels contrived and tacked on. If you liked House of Sand and Fog, you’ll like this one.

David Abrams featured Ron Hansen’s Exiles: A Novel in his recent preview, and it was a good call. Hansen’s novelization of the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins’ seminary life transports with elegant prose. Manley Hopkins has already embarked upon his future Jesuit priesthood, forsaking a promising literary career, when this study of a complex search for identity, a curious predilection for self-flagellation and a tendency toward unorthodox, destructive behavior begins. A prodigious intellect and a dedicated student, Manley Hopkins finds himself adrift in his priestly pursuits until he reads about a contemporary shipwreck that claims the lives of five exiled nuns. The tragedy inspires an innovative poetry form and his return to writing. Hansen writes as a vessel for the poet’s thoughts, trials and tribulations, gifting the reader with insight. It’s a lovely read.

Northline, Willy Vlautin’s latest, opens with a brutal scene of abuse. Allison Johnson, the product of alcoholic trailer life in Las Vegas, drinks too much and apathetically endures humiliating treatment by her boyfriend, until the day she decides to run off to Reno. Her new life is lonely and made tolerable only by her imagined conversations with her favorite movie star: Paul Newman. Slowly, hope springs from unexpected sources. Vlautin, the lead singer and songwriter for the alt.country band, Richmond Fontaine, became an overnight cult favorite in England and Ireland with last year’s The Motel Life. If there’s any justice in the wacky literary world, Northline will be his breakout book in the US. Both books are full of unforgettable characters and scenes. If you’re new to Vlautin, start with The Motel Life, then run right out and pick up Northline.

From the UK, Karen Maitland’s Company of Liars is set for a late summer US release. (Put this one on your wish list now.) It’s 1348, and the plague is spreading like wildfire in England. The only way to avoid contamination, if you’re not rich and can’t hole up in some secluded country estate, is by outrunning it. Through a series of misadventures, one motley crew consisting of a seller of religious icons, a Jewish medicant, a con artist, a young, pregnant, runaway couple, a mysteriously deformed storyteller, an older musician and his Adonis-like student, and a little, orphaned girl with runic-reading powers join together for the long, arduous trek north. One by one, tragedies befall the hapless band, until it becomes evident that nothing is as it first seemed with these characters. Part Canterbury Tales, part The Decameron and part M. Night Shyamalan, Company of Liars is one entertaining sleight of hand that’s all about story.

In our next installment: God makes an ill-fated appearance in the Sudan, the new queen of "weird fiction," an opium selling prostitute in the Wild West, and a paranoid psychiatrist who imagines his wife’s body double.

—Pat D’Amico is a regular contributor to TRJ. She is presently reading Nine Nights by Bernardo Carvalho.

Comments

[Kaethe]

I'm on line for company of Liars. Ummmm, plague.

[Kat Warren]

Cathedral of the Sea is enroute to me. I read and loved Company of Liars last month; ordered it from the UK. And, I'm all hot for Exiles which should be on my doorstep this evening when I get home!

[Kat Warren]

Also, I'm looking forward to this new title due out June 10th: Cost: A Novel by Roxana Robinson.

[Sarah R]

Company of Liars looks good to me, too.

[lynn c]

Thanks, Pat. I just put Cathedral of the Sea on my wishlist. I just finished and loved Pillars of the Earth, and this sounds like my cuppa also.

I ordered Company of Liars from Amazon.uk based on your earlier recommendation, but I haven't gotten to it yet. FYI, I was disappointed in the British cover, which looks much better on a scan. There was no book jacket - the cover is on the book itself. Also, it's got huge print. Not that I'm complaining about that, but at first I thought I had accidentally ordered a Large Print copy.

Also, I still have Motel Life on my shelves from an earlier recommendation from you. So much good stuff to read!

[Pat_D]

Hey lynn, I own the U.K. edition of Company of Liars, and while I'm not crazy about the no-jacket thing, I do like the cover art. It's such a Readerville read. I think most will enjoy it. Please read The Motel Life soon. Vlautin is a born storyteller.

Kat, I have an ARC of Cost, but it's going to be a while until I get to it.

[Kat Warren]

>Kat, I have an ARC of Cost, but it's going to be a while until I get to it.

Geez, Pat, hurry the heck up, will you?!

Interesting, lynn c, my UK order from Amazon for Company of Liars came through just fine. By any chance did you choose a slower delivery option?

[lynn c]

Kat, I ordered Company of Liars right away, but I waited and waited - and nothing. So I contacted Amazon and they sent it out again, and it got here within a week.

That's the first time my shipment got lost, but they were quick to send me a replacement.

Pat, I'll definitely start The Motel Life soon. If you would just stop recommending such good books, I might be able to get to it sooner. ;)