Promotional Information

Following the recent success of Parrot and Olivier in America comes another wonderfully rich tale with historical themes from the twice Booker-winner.

About the Author

Twice winner of the Booker Prize, Peter Carey's most recent novel Parrot and Olivier in America was described by the New Yorker as 'a comic masterpiece' and by the Sunday Times as 'an exhilarating tour-de-force'. It was shortlisted for both the Man Booker Prize and a National Book Award in 2010.

Reviews

Praise for Peter Carey

Two-time Winner of the Booker Prize
Finalist for the International Man Booker Prize
Winner of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize
Five-time Winner of the Miles Franklin Literary Award

"Carey is a master craftsman, a comedian of the first order, an artist with an uncanny gift for the invention of situations that are bizarre yet believable. And as a double Booker Prize winner he doesn't have to prove anything to anyone--he has a licence to enjoy himself, and he does."
--"Irish Independent"
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"Peter Carey is a wily seducer, a mental acrobat who can bound across continents and centuries and make us believe in whatever world he has discovered and imagined."
--Paul Auster

"Carey is a writer I prize not only for his remarkable Dickensian plots but also for the brilliance of his style.... He is the most exuberant stylist at work in English today."
--Edmund White, "Daily Telegraph"

Two-time Booker Prize winner Carey has crafted a novel about craft, the story of a woman who's lost her lover assigned the task of resurrecting an automaton-a simulation of life-from another century. Horologist Catherine Gehrig of London's Swinburne Museum has long conducted a tender affair with the married head curator of metals, and his sudden death has overturned her world. She cannot be seen to mourn, so her boss, who to her surprise has intuited the affair, gives her a job that will separate her from the staff: reassembling a mid-19th-century mechanism. It turns out to be a quite remarkable duck. At first resistant, Catherine is drawn into the task, reading through notebooks left by Henry Brandling of London, whose ailing son was delighted by the duck's design. Thus, in alternate chapters, we see proud, concerned Henry rushing to Germany to get the duck constructed-an act of love that separates him from the very person he wants to please. Verdict Catherine is an entertainingly tart creation, while Henry can be a puzzle, his stubborn ardor somewhat exasperating. Henry's chapters can feel as mechanistic as his duck-surprising from the generally luscious, acutely insightful Carey-but the dedicated prose will still draw in his fans. [See Prepub Alert, 11/14/11.]-Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.