The Meaning of Night
From AwardAnnals
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| Author(s) | Michael Cox |
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| Subtitle | A Confession |
| Publisher | W. W. Norton |
| Honors | |
| The atmosphere of Bleak House, the sensuous thrill of Perfume, and the mystery of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell all combine in a story of murder, deceit, love, and revenge in Victorian England. “After killing the red-haired man, I took myself off to Quinn’s for an oyster supper.” So begins the extraordinary story of Edward Glyver—booklover, scholar, and murderer. As a young boy, Glyver always believed he was destined for greatness. A chance discovery convinces him that he was right: greatness does await him, along with immense wealth and influence. Overwhelmed by his discovery, he will stop at nothing to win back a prize that he knows is rightfully his. | |
The atmosphere of Bleak House, the sensuous thrill of Perfume, and the mystery of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell all combine in a story of murder, deceit, love, and revenge in Victorian England.
“After killing the red-haired man, I took myself off to Quinn’s for an oyster supper.” So begins the extraordinary story of Edward Glyver—booklover, scholar, and murderer. As a young boy, Glyver always believed he was destined for greatness. A chance discovery convinces him that he was right: greatness does await him, along with immense wealth and influence. Overwhelmed by his discovery, he will stop at nothing to win back a prize that he knows is rightfully his.
Glyver’s path to reclaim his prize leads him from the depths of Victorian London, with its foggy streets, brothels, and opium dens, to Evenwood, one of England’s most beautiful and enchanting country houses, and finally to a consuming love for the beautiful but enigmatic Emily Carteret. His is a story of betrayal and treachery, of death and delusion, of ruthless obsession and ambition. And at every turn, driving Glyver irresistibly onward, is his deadly rival: the poet-criminal Phoebus Rainsford Daunt.
The Meaning of Night is an enthralling novel that will captivate readers right up to its final thrilling revelation.
Honors
Reviews
Barnes and Noble
“When a passionate nature is thwarted in its desires, the consequences can be extreme.”
Edward Glyver has a confession to make: He’s responsible for an unsolved, entirely random murder in Victorian London. But there are untold confessions to come, starting with the fact that Glyver is not his real name, and that his true identity, as heir to one of
England’s wealthiest and most influential peerages, is slowly being usurped by his childhood archrival, Phoebus Daunt.
Unwilling to accept the middle-class fate chosen for him by his mother, Edward plumbs the truth of his heritage. Deftly navigating the murky confines of London in his quest to find his mark—an unscrupulous con man who has charmed Edward’s father into making him heir to the estate—Edward succumbs to a vice that has precipitated the downfall of many before him: revenge.
What makes The Meaning of Night so utterly fascinating is the way in which Edward’s obsession slowly, insidiously corrodes his own conscience. As he slides, almost too effortlessly and without real regret, from the position of wronged victim into that of victimizer, Cox suggests that the ultimate face-off between Edward and Daunt is not so much a struggle between right and wrong as a precursor to the loss of principles that characterizes the post-Victorian age. A bravura performance. (Holiday 2006 Selection)
