
Meet John Trow
Thomas Dyja(Author)
Vintage (Publisher)
Published on 6. March 2003
Book
Paperback/Softback
368 pages
978-0-09-944967-6 (ISBN)
Description
Steven Armour is a man at a crossroad: his rise up the career ladder has slowed to a crawl, and his family is slipping out of control. But life takes a dramatic turn for Steven when, on a whim, he joins a local group of Civil War re-enactors.
Assigned to immerse himself in the life of Private John Trow, Steven soon finds that the complex drills of the Union army seem to come to him naturally and his growing infatuation with Polly Kellogg, the wife of the regiment's captain, fires a passion that had cooled with his own wife. While the world around him races faster and faster toward the millennium, Steven turns to the simple consolations of nineteenth-century life.
But so thoroughly does Steven embrace the life of John Trow that even Steven begins to wonder if he is just playing a part, or whether the unquiet spirit of John Trow is taking him over. As Steven's identity slips through his fingers, he must ask himself what - and who - he is willing to sacrifice to become the man he believes he should have been.
Meet John Trow is a moving love story and a haunting, darkly comic exploration of the links between past and present.
Assigned to immerse himself in the life of Private John Trow, Steven soon finds that the complex drills of the Union army seem to come to him naturally and his growing infatuation with Polly Kellogg, the wife of the regiment's captain, fires a passion that had cooled with his own wife. While the world around him races faster and faster toward the millennium, Steven turns to the simple consolations of nineteenth-century life.
But so thoroughly does Steven embrace the life of John Trow that even Steven begins to wonder if he is just playing a part, or whether the unquiet spirit of John Trow is taking him over. As Steven's identity slips through his fingers, he must ask himself what - and who - he is willing to sacrifice to become the man he believes he should have been.
Meet John Trow is a moving love story and a haunting, darkly comic exploration of the links between past and present.
Reviews / Votes
Dyja pulls the past straight into the present with this novel, which manages to be both hilarious and disturbing -- Erica Wagner * The Times * Thomas Dyja spins a fascinating tale of a man who tries to solve his problems in the present by immersing himself in the past, with eerie and almost heartbreaking success -- Margot Livesey Dyja has created a modern achetype in Steven Armour, a man in desperate need of some authenticity in his life who, in the end, gets more authenticity than he bargained for -- Jonathan Dee Wondrous, wry and moving... the novel is a joy... as surprising as it is poignant * Washington Post *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Vintage Publishing
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 130 mm
Thickness: 19 mm
Weight
260 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-09-944967-6 (9780099449676)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Thomas Dyja lives in New York City with his wife and two children. He has written two other novels, Play For a Kingdom and The Moon in Our Hands, as well as a biography of the civil rights pioneer, Walter White.