XerxesA rich and unsettling novel about storytelling, evil and fakery. On the heels of Jonathan Buckley's marvellously assured debut -- 'multilayered and captivating, ' Daily Telegraph; 'A spontaneous and searching picture of a life, ' IoS -- comes his dazzling second novel. Set in Germany in the 1820s, Ettlinger, a young scholar who has been commissioned to design and build a chapel, finds himself increasingly swept up in a circle of friends who regularly meet to joust and outwit each other with stories. At the same time he receives from Wolgast, a local collector of antiques, an invitation to use his library to assist him in his research. But over the coming weeks, Wolgast's hand of friendship seems increasingly sinister and poisonous, his house more an anteroom in Hell. Threaded with the story of the kingdom of Xerxes, a cautionary tale about a paradise lost, Xerxes is a tense and frightening read, a brilliant examination of manipulative men and the shadow they cas |
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Abbadon abbey of Ettal Amestris Andrea Vesalius appeared Artabanus asked Ettlinger August Ettlinger Bardiya beside body brother Cassandane chair church close clouds colour corridor divan door emperor Ettlinger asked Ettlinger looked Ettlinger saw Ettlinger's eyes face feet finger floor Friedrich von Wolgast garden gaze Giacomo glass hair hand head heard Helene von Davringhausen Helene's Herr Catel Herterich horses hour Johann Friedrich Josepha Heldt Klostermann knew Kreisel Lattanzio leave Lichas lips Lizius Maximilian Meier memory mouth Munich night Nymphenburg once painting palm passed paused perhaps picture portrait raised replied Residence Riccio Saint Sebastian seated seemed shadow Shapur shoulder side silence skin smile sound standing Stein stone stood street Thomas Lang thought Tigranes told took tree turned Urmia vetiver Vitruvius voice walked wall window Wolfgang Wolgast's library woman words Xerxes young