Description of Sea Lovers by Valerie Martin:
From the bestselling author of Mary Reilly and the internationally acclaimed Property, a brilliant collection featuring Valerie Martin’s finest short stories to date.
For four decades Valerie Martin has been publishing novels and stories that demonstrate her incredible range as a writer, moving between realism and fantasy while employing a voice that is at once whimsical and tragic. The twelve stories in this collection showcase Martin’s enviable control, precision, and grace and are organized around her three fictional obsessions—the natural world, the artistic sphere, and stunning transformations.
In “The Change,” a journalist watches his menopausal wife, an engraver, create some of her eeriest and most affecting works even as she seems to be willfully destroying their marriage. In “The Open Door,” an American poet in Rome finds herself forced to choose between her lover and a world so alien it takes her voice away. “Sea Lovers” conjures up a hideous mermaid whose fatal seduction of a fisherman provides better reason than Jaws for staying out of the water. In “The Incident at Villedeau” a respected gentleman confesses to killing his wife’s former lover, an event that could be construed as an accident, an impulsive act, or a premeditated crime. Exploring themes of obsession, justice, passion, and duplicity, these drolly macabre stories buzz with tension.
Read An Excerpt from Sea Lovers by Valerie Martin:
Read the short story, ‘Spats’, here.
Praise for Sea Lovers by Valerie Martin:
“An insightful look into the evolution of Martin’s writing and her talent for depicting our darker natures. Varied, engaging, and often shocking”-. Kirkus
Praise for Valerie Martin:
“A wonderful novel, vivid, revealing”-Carol Shields
“The writing – so prised and clean-limbed” – is a marvel-Toni Morrison
“Wonderfully ingenious, compelling, convincing and exciting”-John Banville
“A writer of immense talent and insight”-Yann Martel
“Fluently written, vividly imagined, moving and genuinely, chillingly spooky”- Daily Mail
About Valerie Martin:
VALERIE MARTIN is the author of ten novels, including The Ghost of the Mary Celeste, The Confessions of Edward Day, Trespass, Mary Reilly, Italian Fever, and Property; three collections of short fiction; and a biography of Saint Francis of Assisi, titled Salvation. She has been awarded grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, as well as the Kafka Prize (for Mary Reilly) and Britain’s Orange Prize (for Property).
Giveaway of Sea Lovers by Valerie Martin:
This giveaway is open to the U.S. only and ends on September 1, 2015. Entries accepted only via Rafflecopter.
