Amherst: A Novel - Couverture souple

Nicholson, William

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 1476740410 ISBN 13 : 9781476740416

Editeur : Simon & Schuster, 2016

A propos du livre

Revue de presse

“Alice has come to Emily Dickinson’s hometown to research a screenplay about the long affair between the poet’s brother Austin and Mabel Todd, a professor’s wife. Soon life tips its hat to art: Alice herself enters into an affair. Nicholson deftly weaves Mabel’s story with Alice’s, shedding light on the timeless longing, lust and loneliness of love.” (People)

“Accomplished novelist and screenwriter Nicholson spins a tale of two college-two love triangles...The poetry and history go down easy, the lovers fall hard, and the tragic, treacherous terrain of romantic entanglement is well explored in what more than one reader saw as ripe material for a screenplay.” (Elle)

“[A] wonderfully smooth, sinuous, enigmatic and sexy tale of two love affairs... Nicholson’s dialogue is beautifully oblique and emotionally wrought. We’re drawn into both worlds, both romances. And of Emily and Mabel and Alice and Sue: ‘For love of Her — Sweet — countrymen — /Judge tenderly — of Me.’” (Providence Journal)

“Dickinson’s spirit fuels the drama, which switches between two parallel stories that illuminate the power as well as the often crippling delusion of romantic love.... direct, provocative, even sexy at times.” (Boston Globe)

"Nicholson not only gives us an entertaining and often touching novel but also does a larger service. He reminds us of how well Dickinson knew the human heart, including its loneliness, and that humans, of any century, yearn for deep connection, often against the odds." (Buffalo News)

“A compelling reflection on sex and marriage in the 19th century, [Amherst] is an enjoyable concoction of first-hand accounts and modern imagination.” (Financial Times)

“Nicholson’s prose is sharp while not giving too much away...The novel is a perfect accompaniment for a long winter’s evening...readers who enjoy their historical fiction mixed modern mystery will enjoy Amherst.” (Historical Novels Review)

"Weaving voices of the past and present, Nicholson creates an engaging, many-faceted novel that deftly explores the timeless torments of love and loneliness." (Booklist, starred review)

“Nicholson is an accomplished novelist (Motherland) and Oscar-nominated screenwriter in whose hands this meticulously researched and thought-provoking exploration of the nature of passionate love soars. Told in alternating chapters between the past and the present and using the poems of Emily Dickinson throughout, this work...is accessible to all and should be welcomed by book groups. Highly recommended.” (Library Journal)

"Nicholson's parallel love stories hold classic appeal, while the historical aspects of the tale provide interest for those seeking 'the real story' of one of America's most revered poets." (Kirkus Reviews)

Extrait

Amherst 1

The screen is black. The sound of a pen nib scratching on paper, the sound amplified, echoing in the dark room. A soft light flickers, revealing ink tracking over paper. Follow the forming letters to read:

I’ve none to tell me to but thee

The area of light expands. A small maplewood desk, on which the paper lies. A hand holding the pen.

My hand, my pen, my words. My gift of love, ungiven.

Lay down the pen and cross the room. The light in the room grows. There’s a window on the far side. Outside it’s daylight.

Now the window frames the view. A road, a hedge, a strip of land planted with trees and shrubs. A path runs between the trees to the neighboring house, the Evergreens. A middle-aged man is coming down the path, his head a little bowed.

I know him well, I love him dearly. He is my brother.

Moving faster now, across the bedroom, out onto the landing. To the right is a bright window, to the left, a flight of stairs. Down the stairs, the hem of a white dress brushing the banisters, to come to a stop in the hall. The door to the parlor is ajar.

Pause before the almost closed door. Through the crack a thin slice of the room is visible within: a fire burning in the grate, a wing chair by the fire, the middle-aged man settling himself down with a sigh into the chair.

I know that sigh. I know that he’s unhappy. I know that he leaves his home and comes to my house because he finds no joy in his marriage. I am his refuge.

Open the door, and enter. He raises his bowed head. He has a heavy lined face, a sweep of thick hair above a high forehead, bushy whiskers. He smiles.

“Here I am again,” he says.

Sit down before him, not speaking, waiting for him to speak. After a little while he rises to his feet, paces up and down before the fire. He talks in fits and starts, as if to himself.

“I’ve been remembering Mattie, Mattie Gilbert, Sue’s sister. You liked her, I know. She was the quiet one. She was fond of me, I think. I wrote her a letter, after Sue and I became engaged, but she never answered. Now I wake in the night and think, What if I’d married Mattie?”

He paces in silence for a few moments. Then he comes to a stop and stands before the fire, his eyes cast down.

“I had such great hopes. And what have I left? I have nothing.”

Reach out a hand and touch his arm.

“I call it very unkind of you, brother.”

He smiles at that.

“Am I the unkind one?”

“You think only of yourself. Remember, you’re living for me too.”

“What am I to do?”

“There’s joy to be had in the world,” I say. “You’re to find us joy.”

À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: Simon & Schuster
• Date d'édition: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1476740410
• ISBN 13: 9781476740416
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 304