Constance
Will be published approx. on 22. May 2014
Book
Paperback/Softback
240 pages
978-1-4088-4332-1 (ISBN)
Description
The acclaimed Costa-shortlisted author of Trauma and Asylum brings us a masterful novel of psychological suspense and marriage in 1960s America
'A tour de force ... Unforgettable' New York Times
'An elegant psychological thriller' The Times
The aloof and enigmatic Constance Schuyler lives alone in Manhattan when she meets Sidney Klein, a professor of poetry twenty years her senior, at a literary party. A few weeks later, he proposes marriage and Constance accepts, moving into his dark, book-filled apartment.
But Constance is tortured by a bitter past. When her father makes a devastating revelation, Constance's fragile psyche suffers a profound shock. Her marriage, already tottering, threatens to collapse completely. Sidney can only watch and wait, doubting his own moral strength. Constance's consolation is the friendship of Sidney's boy Howard, a strange, delicate child, not unlike Constance herself...
'A tour de force ... Unforgettable' New York Times
'An elegant psychological thriller' The Times
The aloof and enigmatic Constance Schuyler lives alone in Manhattan when she meets Sidney Klein, a professor of poetry twenty years her senior, at a literary party. A few weeks later, he proposes marriage and Constance accepts, moving into his dark, book-filled apartment.
But Constance is tortured by a bitter past. When her father makes a devastating revelation, Constance's fragile psyche suffers a profound shock. Her marriage, already tottering, threatens to collapse completely. Sidney can only watch and wait, doubting his own moral strength. Constance's consolation is the friendship of Sidney's boy Howard, a strange, delicate child, not unlike Constance herself...
Reviews / Votes
A tour de force ... Unforgettable -- Julie Myerson * New York Times * Patrick McGrath is one of the age's most elegantly accomplished divers into the human psyche, and in his new novel he brings us another resonant sounding from that deep well. Constance is an intricate, multi-layered and, in the end, surprisingly tender work from a master writer -- John Banville Superb ... Constance is a beautifully wrought creation who stands at the book's centre like a cool column of marble ... The New York location, not to mention Constance's neurotic flights, may put one in mind of Esther Greenwood in Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar. McGrath has long been a great writer of modern gothic ... Brilliant -- George Pendle * Financial Times * Elegant psychological thriller -- Kate Saunders * The Times * The foremost writer of modern, psychological gothic ... Ultimately less bleak than some of McGrath's other work, Constance confirms him as a masterful writer not just of gothic but of complex relationships in crisis * Sunday Times * Subtle and ingenious and provocative * Spectator * A stately, artful realism ... This is McGrath at his most subtle and restrained * Times Literary Supplement *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 129 mm
Weight
173 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4088-4332-1 (9781408843321)
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
Other editions
Additional editions
Patrick McGrath
Constance
E-Book
05/2013
1st Edition
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
€7.49
Available for download
Person
Patrick McGrath is the author of a short story collection, Blood and Water and Other Tales, and seven previous novels including Asylum, Martha Peake, Port Mungo and Trauma, shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award. He has also published Ghost Town, a volume of novellas about New York. Spider was made into a film in 2002 by acclaimed director David Cronenberg. Patrick McGrath lives in London and New York.