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A Stuga On the Cusp of the Orust Riviera, tucked away next to a hobbit hole in the woods.
Gerontius by James Hamilton-Paterson
bookshelves: published-1991, hardback, one-penny-wonder, paper-read, newtome-author, winter-20142015, bedside, bellybutton-mining, brazil, debut, lit-richer, music, seven-seas, tbr-busting-2015, long-weekend, under-50-ratings
Recommended to ☯Bettie☯ by: Eleanor
Recommended for: Laura
Read from October 09, 2014 to February 13, 2015
My coverDescription: Gerontius is the story of a real voyage in the life of Sir Edward Elgar, the celebrated composer of the quintessentially English tune 'Land of Hope and Glory'. The cruise up the Amazon is a holiday for the disillusioned music-maker. In telling the story of his journey, Hamilton-Paterson explores the waning of creative genius, post-war disenchantment and the effects of the changing times on an artist imprisoned in his own immense reputation.
Opening: A train was travelling northwards from London through the grey squalls of a winter's afternoon. From a corner seat in one of its carriages a man watched his country with the scurried perspective of a railway traveller: crossing fields at a bias, chipping off the corner of a hill, barked at by sudden brick walls and engulfed in tunnels. Desolate suburbias came and went and the tarred telegraph poles kept pace.
This is the right isbn but my beaut-eyeful cover is not an option here. I'll take a piccie of it.
What an opening - this is going to offer beautiful writing if Hamilton-Paterson can keep up with those tarred poles.
Sir Andrew Davis Conducts The Dream of Gerontius @ St. Paul's Cathedral
Guardian piece: Beyond the Malverns: Elgar in the Amazon
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