- Hardcover: 320 pages
- Publisher: William Morrow & Company (Jun 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0066211263
- ISBN-13: 978-0066211268
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 16 x 2.7 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,831,336 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Guardian, September 2003
...this deeply engaging book defies all labels.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
A fable, a nightmare, a vision, a mystery - superbly rich imaginative fiction at its best
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
MUCH TO my unease, Mrs. Reed positioned herself, all evening, beneath or immediately to either side of her new portrait. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
MUCH TO my unease, Mrs. Reed positioned herself, all evening, beneath or immediately to either side of her new portrait. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
When this grabbed me, I then polished it off in a day. It's a tale half a step away from the real world, just beside the territory of Bram Stoker and Poe (similarly mannered style) where sympathetic magic might work, or might not. I also kept expecting Jack the Ripper to step out of an alley way. It was evocative of that world. The book is full of distorted iconography and wonderful knowing humour: "Put me down for the nose," he said. "A truly ingenious economy of paint." (just one of many examples), the macabre, and the erotic (and the scatological). I'll be reading more of his stuff.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is an outstanding piece of fiction. I really wish there were more writers like Ford in the business. Wonderful prose, delicate lyrical style. And very thoughtful, too. Kept your mind working - a rarity for many books these days, isn't it? Will be buying some more of this man's books.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This novel sparked my imagination from its first pages. As the painter, Mr Piambo, laboured to capture the likeness of his invisible -and possibly mad - patron, Mrs Charbuque, I found myself urgently making my own mental portraits of her, as if to beat Piambo to the goal. Ford writes cleverly without being pretentious, and maintains real suspense throughout the book. I couldn't put it down - and will never be able to smell nutmeg without fond memories.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Nothing more than average
I am honestly quite surprised at all the 5 star reviews this book got. I've read all of the Physiognomy trilogy by Jeffrey Ford which are excellent, which is why I decided to get... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Geff Daley
gothic mystery
Piambo is an artist commissioned to paint a woman he is not allowed to see. If he pulls this off, he will earn so much money he will forever be able to pursue his artistic muse... Read more
Published on 4 May 2009 by Rubbah
A mysterious comission
In New York of 1893, painter Piambo is suffocating. He's forced to paint society portraits of the nouveaux riches in order to make a living. Read more
Published on 8 Oct 2007 by Mikko Saari
A mysterious and suspenseful read!
I purchased this book mainly because I only really read historical fiction, and was captured by the opening sentences as I perused it in the shop. Read more
Published on 18 July 2006 by FAMOUS NAME
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