From AudioFile
Alain returns to his homestead in the south of France after a long absence. He finds his patrician relatives in turmoil because his morose, aged cousin, the mayor, wants to marry a grocers daughter, over the objections of both families. Upon investigating, Alain finds himself falling for the girl himself. Though the story apparently takes place in modern times, the characters speak and act like those in the authors popular Aubrey/Maturin novels, set in the nineteenth century. Long rhetorical speeches abound, seasoned with touches of dry humor and a pronounced continental atmosphere. All is mothers milk to narrator Simon Vance, whose gusto, lingual aplomb, and large repertoire of characterizations keep listeners alert through many a fustian passage. Y.R. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine--
Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
Product Description
Set amongst the rolling vineyards and gentle courtyards of a small seaside village in Catalonia, Patrick O'Brian's second novel is a poignant story of tumultuous love, complex faith and one man's desperate bid to reclaim his humanity. Summoned from his medical practice in China by a bevy of anxious aunts, Alain Roig returns to his Catalan hometown to discover he has been nominated by family members with vested interests in the ancestral property to prevent an impending marriage between his cold, ascetic cousin Xavier and Madeleine, a quiet, introspective village girl of unusual beauty. As Alain seeks to understand his cousin's complex motivations for wooing the unhappy girl, he is slowly drawn into Xavier's dark crisis of faith, the well-worn pattern of the sleepy Catalan days and the tight circle of village gossip that surrounds Madeleine. Throughout, Patrick O'Brian's slow, seductive narrative lures the reader into the landscapes, rhythms and passions of Catalonia, while his subtle, insightful characterisation paints a psychological portrait of a unique way of life and two very different men - one generous and impulsive, the other desperate to revive in his soul the dying flames of affection which he senses could be his salvation. With themes and characters that in many ways prefigure his enormously successful Aubrey/Maturin series, THE CATALANS demonstrates all the insight, lyricism and psychological drama that made O'Brian one of the best storytellers of his generation.
This text refers to an alternate
Hardcover
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