Con Brio
Brina Svit(Author)
The Harvill Press
Published on 18. July 2002
Book
Paperback/Softback
176 pages
978-1-86046-857-5 (ISBN)
Description
In a brasserie just off the Boulevard St Germain, a distinguished novelist watches, entranced, the motions of a young woman's hands folding a restaurant bill into a paper boat. This passing observation - slim fingers against a white linen tablecloth - provides the springboard for a compelling story of desire and jealousy in Brina Svit's explosive new novel, Con Brio. The respected author's comfortable life vanishes the instant he admires this strange woman's hands; the discipline of forty productive years dissolves. On an impulse he proposes to her. She answers without hesitation: yes, she will marry him, but on her terms. She will live with him, but they are to remain strangers. Soon Kati has driven Tibor's housekeeper, secretary and even his cat from his home. And as she continues to hold Tibor at arms' length, he goes from being a cool observer of the chaos she creates, to a man driven wild by passion and jealousy. With a brutality offset only by the elegance and subtlety of Svit's writing. Con Brio - like Death in Venice before it - dramatises the ruinous consequences of sexual obsession.
Reviews / Votes
"Con Brio explores the different ways men and women experience love, desire, absolute devotion, and the mystery each has for the other" Jean-Luc Douin, Le Monde; "Con Brio consumes us like a bout of fever...Disconcerting and brilliant. Give it to your best friend" ElleMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Vintage Publishing
Product notice
Paperback (UK-trade)
Weight
200 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-86046-857-5 (9781860468575)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Brina Svit was born in Slovenia in 1959, and divides her time between Paris and Slovenia. She works as a journalist, screenwriter and director, and has written three novels. Con Brio is her first novel to be translated into English.