Hardback: The mists drift and the hemp sways, and this world is the Devil's world. The flax shivers and the river flows, and this world is an illusion, a husk, a box of tricks. I walk outside, and the Guest is gone, the only Guest I have ever had. I am a sinful vessel, a puppet of vain and mortal flesh. What right have I to Love? - A Basket of Honey (Anno 1231. Odile II), p101.
Ambitious, immersive, a remarkable feat of imagination, Cathedral (2021) tells a sweeping story about obsession, mysticism, art, and earthly desire. It deftly combines historical fiction, the literary novel of ideas, and a tale of adventure and intrigue.
At the center of this story is the Cathedral. Its design and construction over decades in the town of Hagenburg unites a vast array of unforgettable characters whose fortunes are inseparable from the shifting political factions and economic interests vying for supremacy. Around this narrative center, Ben Hopkins has constructed his own monumental edifice, a novel that is rich with the vicissitudes of mercantilism, politics, religion, and human enterprise.
Fans of authors like Umberto Eco, Elif Shafak, Hilary Mantel, and Jose Saramago, and readers of first-rate historical fiction will delight at the atmosphere, the beautiful prose, and the vivid characters of Ben Hopkins’s Cathedral.
About the author: Ben Hopkins is a screenwriter, film-maker and novelist. He has lived in London and Istanbul and now lives in Berlin. His films include features and shorts, fiction and documentary, and have won awards at festivals such as Berlin, Locarno, Antalya and Toronto Hot Docs. Cathedral is his first novel and was written between 2010 and 2017.
Author: 5/5
No comments:
Post a Comment